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Quis numerare queat felicis præmia, Galle,
Militia?

What vast prerogatives my Gallus, are

Accruing to the mighty man of war?

Dryden.

We recommend the whole of this satire of the Roman poet to any one who can treat the matter with good humour, as an excellent ground for a pleasant poem, on Mr. Windham's plan. After the above quotation, the satirist proceeds ironically to enumerate the blessings they enjoy, which may be easily parodied with the happiest effect, and the gist of the work may tend to prove that the old mode of conducting the regulars is the best, and that the militia and the volunteers are all-sufficient for what they are ordained. These are our sentiments, and as to the present pamphlet, it is above its merits to have the honour of introducing them to the world.

The French Anas. In three Vols. 12mo. Phillips. 1805. THIS work will be found exceedingly entertaining and acceptable to all classes of readers, as well to the most persevering and laborious, as to the most tangent and frivolous. After a quotation well introduced, from Wolf's Prefatio ad Casauboniana, the compiler gives us this account of his undertaking.

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"With respect to the plan on which the following selection has been conducted, the editor wishes to state, that choosing from the various Anas those sages which seemed to him to possess the most general tendency to amuse or instruct; adding notes, where the articles could be usefully expanded or illus trated; compressing some passages, without weakening their sense; and adding literary and biographical sketches of the authors, whose names are affixed severally to each Ana, are the only attempts in this work by which he has presumed to exceed the laborious and cautious province of a translator and compiler." P. vi. Pref.

A few extracts will amuse, and at the same time afford a taste of the feast, which Mr. Phillips, with his usual judgment, has been the means of providing for the public.

&

66 A QUACK DOCTOR.

"A foolish, idle fellow at Florence, hearing that a physician had obtained; great credit and wealth by the sale of some pills, undertook to make pills himself, and to sell them. He administered the same pills to all patients whatever; and, as by chance, they sometimes succeeded, his name became famous. A country man called on him, and desired to know if his pills would enable him to find an ass he had lately lost. The quack bid him swallow six pills. In his way home, the operation of the pills obliged him to retire into a wood, where he found his

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The clown spread a report, that he knew a doctor who sold pills which would recover strayed cattle." Poggiana, p. 9, vol. i.

This anecdote reminds us of a jest. in a farce called the Doctor and Apothecary. A pretended doctor there recommends his pills, in the case of a lost lap dog.-The dog's lost-Eh! take the pills, says he, they are very searching.

66 THEODERIC, ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE,

"This prelate was illustrious in his time for his talents, erudition, and morals. One day the Emperor Sigismond asked of him instructions to obtain happiness. "We cannot, Sire, expect it in this world."" Which, then, is the way to happiness hereafter?" "You must act virtuously.". "_"What do you mean by that expression?"—" I mean," says Theoderic," that you should always pursue that plan of conduct, which you promise to do whilst you are labouring under a fit of the gravel, gout, or stone." Id. p. 16.

This is good advice, but we cannot help recollecting that

"When the devil was sick

The devil a monk would be;
When the devil was well,

The devil a monk was he."

FROM THE PERRONIANA.

"I observed one day to the duke of Mantua, who said the jester whom he retained in his service, was a fellow of no wit or humour-" Your Grace must pardon me. I think he has a deal of wit, who can live by a trade he does not understand." Vol. 1. p. 43.

We have a number of these wits in the metropolis. Drawing masters, for instance, who, says Shee, and well, when they find they cannot learn the art, become teachers of it.

FROM SEGRAISIANA.

"An orator, at a meeting during the troubles of the League, began a speech with premising, that he should divide the subject he was about to treat of, into thirteen heads. The audience were heard to murmur, and to interrupt this formidable beginning. But,' continued the orator, to prevent my being too pro lix, I shall omit a dozen of them."" P. 184, vol. i.

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We intended to have added more, but we can take a hint. The Letters of Junius complete, interspersed with the Letters and Articles to which he replied, and with Nates Biographical and Explanatory, also a prefatory Enquiry respecting the real Author. By John Almond. 2 Vols. Phillips. 1806.

THE world is here presented with a very copious Junius. The lovers of sarcasm and bold assertions, not always supported by a strong ground of truth, and when upheld by facts, too frequently

wantoning in and abusing the liberty of the press, have ever been loud in commendation of these extraordinary letters, and still continue to flatter them with their praise. Others, of a more mild, gentle, and benevolent nature, admire the wit of the author, but can by no means commend the spirit that sometimes appears to animate him. We certainly are of the latter number; however, since, to talk of the mildness, gentleness, and benevolence of reviewers might occasion a smile, we shall offer no opinion in that character, but call in to our assistance a writer of eminence, who has lately given judgment in the case. His sentiments meet our ideas in many respects, and a perusal of the passage will be particularly serviceable to many who, without being able to form a judgment of their own, wish to speak of Junius with sense and

taste.

"I consider Tristram Shandy," says Mr. Cumberland, " as the most eccentric work of my day, and Junius the most acrimonious; we have heard much of his style; I have just been reading him over with attention, and I confess I can see but little to admire. The thing to wonder at is, that a secret to which several must have been privy, has been so strictly kept; if Sir William Draper, who baffled him in some of his assertions, had kept his name out of sight, I am inclined to think he might have held up the cause of candour with success. The publisher of Junius I am told was deeply guaranteed; of course, although he might not know his author, he must have known wherabouts to look for him. I never heard that my friend Lord George Germain was amongst the suspected authors, till by way of jest he told me so not many days before his death: I did not want him to disavow it, for there could be no occasion to disprove an absolute impossibility. The man, who wrote it, had a savage heart, for some of his attacks are execrable; he was a hypocrite, for he disavows private motives, and makes pretensions to a patriotic spirit. I can perfectly call to mind the general effect of his letters, and am of opinion that his malice overshot its mark. Let the anonymous defamer be as successful as he may, it is but an unenviable triumph, a mean and cowardly gratification, which his dread of a discovery forbids him to avow."-Memoirs, p. 506. Lackington, 1806.

We make no apology for this quotation. Mr. Almon might have made it, at this hour of the day, without injustice to his author. The work is well and correctly printed, and the edition, to all who need a Junius, is very desirable. The editor's laborious at

tempt to prove these epistles to be the production of Hugh Boyd, Esq. is not without ingenuity, but, as it respects ourselves, without effect. We presume to give no opinion on the subject with regard to names, but we guess that the writer was a man like Timocreon Rhodius, eating all the good things of this world, and saying all the bad ones he could of its inhabitants. With a mutato nomine, be this his epitaph:

Πολλα φαγων, και πολλα πιων, και πολλά κακ' ειπων
Ανθρώπους, κειμαι Τιμοκρέων Ρόδιος,

The complete Confectioner, or the whole Art of Confectionary made easy, with Instructions, engraved on Ten Copper-plates, to decorate a Table with Taste and Elegance, the Result of many Years Experience with Messrs. Negri and Co. the most celebrated Confectioners in the World. 3d Ed. with very considerable Additions. By F. Nutt, Esq. p. 6s. 6d. Matthews and Leigh.

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THIS book is indeed full of sweet things. It is true, however, that were we tempted to spend six shillings and sixpence on confectionary, it should certainly not be in this form. On any other plates you please, Squire Nutt, but for our money by no means on copper-plates." Other people may have other tastes, and to such we may, we believe, (for we must own we know but little of whips and trifles in their present sense) recommend this publication as one abounding in deserts. Housekeepers, and more regular artists in this way, will, to use Shakspeare's language, find some "kernel in this light NUT."

The Citizen; a Hudibrastic Poem. In 5 Cantos; to which is added Nelson's Ghost; a Poem, in 2 Parts. By Edward Montague. 8vo. 6s. Hughes, 1806.

STUPID, dull, and ignorant, and as to Hudibras, " as like as Vulcan and his wife." If Mr. Montague be, as we suspect, 66 a fat and greasy citizen" himself, we advise him to draw in his horns, and attempt to butt with them no more.

Ulm and Trafalgar. 4to. 1s. Hatchard. 1806.

THIS is the only copy of verses that has, in our judgment, done any credit to the memory of Nelson. That glorious day, full of sorrow and exultation,

When the vanquish'd triumph'd, and the victors mourn'd;

Dryden,

that day,

Quem semper acerbum,

Semper honoratum (sic Dîi voluistis) habebo;

Virg. "for ever sad, for ever dear," is by our poet finely described in the true spirit of poetry. "Yielded armies," in the first line, is an unhappy epithet, but it is probably the excellence of its companions that makes us perceive its imperfection. This is indeed an animated strain:

"And sure, if e'er the spirits of the blest

Still fondly cherish, in the realms of rest,

Their human passions; thine are still the same ;

Thy zeal for England's safety and her fame!

And when in after times, with vain desire,

Her baffled foes in restless hate conspire

From her fair brow th' unfading wreath to tear,

Thy hand-and hands like thine—have planted there,
Thou, sacred shade! in battle hovering near,

Shalt win bright victory from her golden sphere,
To float aloft, where England's ensign flies,
With angel wings, and palms from Paradise!"

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P. S.

Perhaps thy hand-and hands like thine," seeing that Nelson had but one, is a nice, distinction, which may excite a smile where the author intended to be serious.

We are credibly informed that this is the production of Mr. Canning. It reflects much honour on his muse.

An Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European Powers. By H. Brougham, Junr. Esq. F.R. S. 2 Vols. 18s. Longman and Co.

COLONIAL possessions, according to the actual state of European nations, are of so much moment, that the consideration of the best policy in these relations cannot be too seriously weighed and examined. In a particular point of view the " Mémoire,” and “Essai par le Citoyen Talleyrand," which we reviewed last month, will be read with great advantage; and on political economy, before this "Inquiry" is taken up, it would be well that a Tyro in these matters should consult Dr. Smith and Sir James Steuart. Mr. Brougham's work offers many excellent reflections, but his arrangement is faulty, his manner crude, and his language frequently obscure, redundant, and inelegant. Much information may still be gathered from the mass.

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