"SONNET IV. To MAY, 1799. Alas, poor May! with truth 1 ftyle thee poor, That peafant children, aye, were wont to twine Its fair and pencilled foliage till the ray 25. Cadell and Davies. 1800. ART. 16. Contentment; or, Hints to Servants on the prefent Scarcity. "Robin! I oft record thofe plenteous days, Drove them attentive to your mutual eafe, And join'd with their's your fympathetic wheeze; You made her hofpitable stable known, It is whispered, that this effufion proceeds from the fame pen which formerly produced the very original Epiftles of Mr. B*rh*d. There is no fimilitude which would lead to the conjecture; but we believe the fact to be fo. ART. 17. · A melancholy but true Story. 4to. 15. 6d. Liverpool printed; Hurt, London. A very melancholy tale indeed; related with more moral than poetic feeling. The truth of it is infifted upon, as we fee in the title page; to which we can only fay, "would it were impoffible!" The outline is briefly this, a woman fteals a loaf for her children, the baker follows her and feizes the loaf, and the children die of hunger. Surely fome of the circumftances mult be exaggerated! ART. ART. 18. Lord Auckland's Triumph; or, the Death of Crim. Con. A Pair of Prophetic Odes. To which are added, an Addrefs to Hymen, an Ode on the Paffions, &c. with a most interesting Poftfcript. By Peter Pindar, Efq. 4to. 2s. 6d. Weft and Hughes. 1800. We have more than once had occafion to remark the decline, and latterly the total extinction of Peter Pindar's fcribbling faculties The admirers of this man's trafh, must be outrageously fond of filth and obfcenity, if they can be content to toil through fuch execrable ftupidity as the following, in purfuit of their object. Again, "King David fet a very bad example, Of wedlock's conftant, chafte, and loving state: Too prone on wild variety to feed, Do fomething in this wicked way." Euge! "I haté dull conftancy, 'tis fuch a bore; Shame to the man (an old man too, wè are informed) that could writes the publisher that could vend, and the people who can purchase, fuch grovelling impurities! But we do the people wrong. Peter's works have now no value but from the high price of waste paper, and few readers but unfortunate reviewers. The "half crown's worth" this time, is addreffed to that most refpectable nobleman, Lord Auckland (whofe virtuous and amiable wite, and innocent daughters, are brutally infulted in a Preface, that for dulnefs and licentioufnefs, exceeds every thing with which even Peter has yet treated his admirers. The Odes as they are called, make ftill a further ftep in the climax of groffness and stupidity; and are, befides, fottifhly vain. They are followed by what Peter is pleafed to call an interefting Poftfcript, and, indeed, it is as interefting as ignorance, impudence, falfehood, malignity, and profanenefs can render it. Peter Pindar, who has fubfifted for thefe twenty years on the miferable profits of fcandal and outrage, has taken offence, forfooth, at fome remarks on himfelf which appeared in a respectable publication, which he attri butes to a fet of gentlemen, NOT ONE OF WHOM, WE CAN VENS TURE TO AFFIRM, EVER WROTE A WORD IN IT; and he ex-t hautts all Billingfgate and St. Giles's (the fcurrility without the wit) in wantonly infulting, in confequence of his own blunder, thofe who probably never yet spent a fingle thought, certainly not a fingle line! on on him or his works! It must be confeffed, that Peter's haunts are not very favourable to the attainment of literary intelligence, nevertheles, we cannot but wonder at his intolerable ignorance: he is, perhaps, the only fcribbler in the country, who does not know the reputed author of the publication in question. Just as we were configning his fheets in wearifomeness and disgust, to "the vault of all the Capulets," the words BRITISH CRITIC caught our eye, and induced us to proceed a few lines further. We too have offended Peter, Heaven blefs us! And in revenge, this "moft forcible Feeble" puts himself into a parlous paffion, and calls hard names. Serioufly, we cannot but congratulate ourfelves extremely on the abuse of this miferable man; which convinces us that our humble, but fincere labours in the caufe of truth and virtue, have not been altogether ineffectual, fince they have provoked the hoftility of one, who has ever fhown himfeif their inveterate for. Very far removed from our enquiries and purfuits, his character was till lately unknown to us, except fo far as it was developed by his own corrupted pen. Expofed as it now ftands to all the world, by more than one detector, we can offer him, in return for his favours, nothing better than our unmitigated fcorn and contempt. We forbear to do more than add an act of honeft duty, in telling the world, that the affertion, with respect to that most respected prelate, who has so often attracted the malice of Peter, a prelate moft confcientious in every discharge of his high function, is an atrocious falfehood, which probably Peter very well knew, Can there be a greater combination of meannefs and profligacy, than to tell a direct lie, and then to qualify it by faying, if this is not true I beg pardon? ART. 19. Peter not infallible! or a Poem addreffed to Peter Pindar, Efq. on reading his Nil Admirari, a late illiberal Attack on the Bishop of London; together with unmanly Abufe of Mrs. Hannah More. Alfo Lines occafioned by his Ode to fome Kobin Red-Breafts in a Country Cathedral. By the author of Gleanings after Thomfon, or the Village Mufe, &c. 4to. Cambridge, printed; Cadell and Davies, London. 1800, Not infallible! Is that news?-What ftrange heresy ever attributed any fpecies of infallibility to Peter? This very young writer has a zeal for what is good. and a defire to defend piety and merit, in the perfons of Bishop Porteus, and Mrs. More, but in knowledge of the world he is ftrangely deficient. He treats Peter as a man of genius, having fome blemishes; as a perfon of general merit, reprehenfible in a few inftances. But he has been fully and publicly fhown to be, monftrum nullâ virtute redemptum A vitiis, and his genius was at beft but the genius of doggerel, and that so veryfcanty, that it has long been utterly exhaufted." This publication is fo extremely well intended in all its parts, that we fhould gladly give a fpecimen of it, could we find one that would be, in any great degree, creditable to its author; but of fome works the the most favourable method is to praife the defign, and to be filent on the execution. Mediocrity is the character of the prefent. From this, and his other productions, the young author before us feems to have a moft eager defire to write; we will offer him a very friendly piece of advice. Let him read affiduoufly for three years before he attempts to write again. DRAMATIC. ART. 20. Indifcretion, a Comedy, in Five Ats, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane. By Prince Hoare, Author of the Prize, c. 8vo. 80 pp. 28. Barker, and Stace. 1800. The fenfible part of the modern writers for the ftage, feem to he placed in a difficult fituation between the laws of the regular drama, and the prefent tafte for theatrical performances, which has been undoubtedly vitiated by the introduction of thowy trifles, and exotic nonfenfe, efpecially that of a German origin. The author of Indifcretion, whose pen is well-known to have been employed in various other dramatic performances, has, in our opinion, avoided all extremes with much skill. His drama is regular, noral, and inftructive; yet wants not those fallies of humour, and changes of fituation, which give life to the comic fcene. The following is an outline of the plot. From the dialogue of the firft fcene between Mrs. Goodly, a réfpect able woman, and her daughter Laura, it appears that Julia Burly, in order to avoid a marriage with Captain Maxim, had departed from her father's houfe in company with a Mr. Clermont, who, inftead of making honourable propofals, attempted to feduce her. Julia having rejected his offers, and become fenfible of her indifcretion, fled for protection to Mrs. Goodly, and entrusted her to obtain, if poffible, an interview with her father. Mrs. Goodly, who had great reafons to be attached to the Burly family, undertook the difficult task, exerted herself in behalf of julia; and the play begins with her telling Laura the fuccefs of her application to Mr. Burly, and that he was obliged to proceed with great caution, left the fhould exafperate the irritable temper of the old gentleman. After fome hefitation, old Burly is at length prevailed upon to fee his daughter, and the interview between him and the penitent Julia is extremely well written, and even affecting. Burly feems inclined to forgive her; but her refufal to difciofe the name of the man with whom the had eloped, enrages her father to such a degree, that he orders her to quit his houfe. Clermont, now fenfible of his fault, and infpired with honourable love for the virtuous Julia, endeavours, but ineffectually, to discover her retreat; while the contrives to put the reality of his repentance to the trial by a ftratagem. She difguifes herself as a modern cox F «BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XVI. JULY, 1800. comb, comb, and, obtaining an interview with Clermont, agitates his feelings by the introduction of general invectives, and apt allufions to his former conduct. He, not fufpecting the prefence of Julia, is fucceffively agitated by the various fentiments of honour and refentment, of caution and repentance. A fimilar scheme is adopted by old Burly, who wishing to hear how Julia's character flood with the young men of her acquaintance, affumes, with the affiance of Mrs. Goodly, the dress of an old nurse. Julia, ftill in the difguife of a young man, partakes in the interview obtained for this purpofe, wherein the feelings of Burly are alternately hurt and fupprefled. At length being exafperated by a variety of fpeeches, and finding that Clermont, who is alfo prefent, is generally fufpected of being the man who had eloped with Julia, he throws off his difguife, and demands fatisfaction. The latter owns his guilt, attefts Julia's innocence, and fincerely offers to atone for his mifconduct. by marrying her, if his repentance may render him worthy of her hand. This conduct, together with other proofs, perfuade old Burly of his daughter's innocence, and the reconciliation is complete. Another plot is interwoven with this, exhibiting the ridiculous con fequences of the attempt to bring about a marriage by advertisement; and the characters and fituations are well calculated to fhow the abfurdity of it, in the most laughable point of view. A variety of other incidents are intermixed, and the isue of the whole is, that Burly confents to give Julia in marriage to Clermont; and two other matches take place, for which the fpectator has been duly prepared and interested. With refpect to the language, and the moral tendency of this piece, we are far from feeing any reafon to find fault; but recommend it, altogether, as fuperior to the generality of our late dramatic performances. ART. 21. The Syftematic or Imaginary Philofopher. A Comedy, in Five Als. 8vo. 91 pp. 2s. 6d. Jordan Hookham. 1800. The Imaginary Philofopher is cured in a very natural and agreeable manner; namely, by the charms of a lively and beautiful woman. This is no uncommon catastrophe both in novels and on the ftage; and we discover no novelty in the plot (if it may be called one) of this Comedy. The principal character is heightened far above the bounds of probability; the low perfonages are, we think, in their style and language, too grofs even for farce; and the play, upon the whole, not fuch as could, by any alterations, be rendered fit for the theatre. We are certainly among thofe who disapprove the " mingling of verfe with profe" in a comedy; though we are aware it has been practifed by Sir Richard Steele (in the Funeral) and by most of our early writers. 1 NOVELS, |