fo much do profeffed engineers deferve promotion and encourage ment, in obtaining the fuitable rewards of their merit: but the fub ject of the pamphlet now before us, is to fhew that this encourage ment is withheld from them. The importance of the ftudy of military architecture, and the various branches of knowledge neceffarily connected with it, is very fibly laid down in this pamphlet; from whence it appears, that to be a compleat engineer, or in other words, a compleat foldier, de, mands an extenfive fhare of various knowledge; thus qualified, our Author leads him into actual service, and fhews how indifpenfible the preceding points of knowledge are, to the fuccefs of every species of it. If we were to carry our ideas no farther in military preferment, than the comparative confideration of the ftudies before mentioned, with thofe which confift in the graceful management of a fpontoon, and the knowledge of a few evolutions, there would be little occafion for the following remonstrances. I have now endeavoured to point out the duties of an Engineer in Peace and in War, and, from what has been faid, we may venture to affirmed, that no profeffion in the whole circle of human affairs is more arduous and difficult, comprehends a greater number of objects, or requires a greater diverfity of knowledge, than his; joined, befides, with thofe qualities which conftitute a good and brave foldier. Let us now turn our attention to the encouragement given to this profeffion; and to the prefent fituation of the corps of Engineers. Honours and riches are the univerfal purfuits of men: these are the incitements that urge the human mind to the greatest exertion of her faculties, and are the neceffary returns for toil and danger; yet how little of either falls to the fhare of this fet of men! But let us first take a view of thofe profpects of honour or rank a man hath before him who fets out in this profeffion.-After furviving one half of his corps, what a chance! he afcends, at last, by thirty tedious fteps, to the abfurd mixt rank of a Captain-Lieutenant, and must then climb twelve fteps more before he can reach the rank of Captain; which laft he cannot attain (according to the ordinary courfe of preferment hitherto obferved) until he is arrived at a very -advanced age; and even then he will find himself still distant twelve - fteps more from the rank of a Field Officer. In fhort, he muft outlive fixty of his cotemporaries before he can become a Colonel; as there is but one of that rank in the whole corps, according to the ́establishment; and even that will probably be at a time of life, when he is fitter to retire to his fecond nursery than to perform the duties of an employment fo difficult.-As matters are at present settled, the very acquirements neceffary in his profeffion are a hinderance to his preferment, from their being confidered as fufficient reafons for confining him to his own corps, and excluding him from all others. He must wait for the flow routine of one corps to be advanced; not having that large field for promotion which the whole army prefents to other officers.' If the gratification of honours is so sparingly allowed them, it appears from our Author, that their pecuniary emoluments are not cal culated culated to fatisfy them better: what he pleads for, is a more equal fhare of both. It may just be hinted, that however cautious we may be of favouring military establishments, yet the proper regulation of that force which the prefent policy of Europe obliges us to maintain, is of great importance to the rendering it effectual, in a patriotic view. N. Art. 33. Flagel: or a Ramble of Fancy through the Land of electioneering. In the Manner of the Devil upon Two Sticks. 8vo. 23. Kearsley, &c. The land of electioneering would certainly prove a fertile foil for a mafter of true humour to cultivate; as he would there find a large field for the amusement of himself and his readers. Bu, without that agreeable talent, a pretender to humour who fhould take it into his head to wander there, would quickly tire his readers in following him. True humour is inherent, and is fo peculiarly a man's own property, that few can conteft it with him. What imitators we have had of the manners of Cervantes, Rabelais, Le Sage, Butler, Swift, and Sterne! but, like Alexander's courtiers, though they ape the defects of their mafters, they diftinguish themselves only by the affectation. As to Mr. Flagel, if the circumftance of taking a devil for his guide be fufficient to ftamp the refemblance, the Writer will rank with the ingenious author of Le Diable Boiteau; if fhort chapters, abrupt digreffions, zigzag writing, low phrafes, and a loose innuendo pointed out by two or three afterifks, be all that are required to conffitute a Triftrain Shandy, Flagel may be the man. But if more than thefe qualities fhould be required to form the refemblances, all that can be faid of him will amount only to this, that he is Mr. Flagel; and if a puppet-fhew fcene, imitated from Don Quixote, can entitle him to the merit of a Cervantes, he has it. N. POLITICAL and COMMERCIAL. Art. 34. The First Measures neceffary to be taken in the American Department. 4to. is. 6d. Is. 6d. Nicoll. 1768. This Writer, confcious perhaps that advice unasked, when offered to another in his proper business, is not always welcome; introduces these neceffary measures by a dedication to the fecretary of state for the Ameican department. This dedication is conceived in such a strain of commendation and praise of his lordship's abilities, that if the Writer credited his own words, might have induced him to trust the first measures necessary to be taken, to the department from which he muft fuppofe they would neceffarily fpring. But from this profeffed dictate of what ought to be done, and from his voting the American fecretaryship a needlefs office, in almoft his outfet, his fincerity may perhaps be questioned. This however is not the only tumbling block we met with; for in his preface, the writer having established that private and public interests are not always fo happy as to coincide; proceeds thus: ↑ I premise this on purpose to fhew that the subject requires no common capacity, and to prepare the patience of the Reader, that the prolixity of this work may not prejudice him against it. It being convincingly evident that a fubject so very important and extenfive as that which af fects 7 fects all ought not to be treated, with precifion. It is either the miftake or prefumption of critics, to fay that it is neceffary to come immediately to the point. Commercial matters in which all are concerned, and which all, in a free ftate, have an equal right to comprehend, fhould of be treated in a laconic ftyle. Indeed all fubjects ought to be introduced with grace, and argued with temper and perfpicuity, in order to come at laft, by gradual approaches, to the point. Prolixity is more excus able in weighty affairs than precision the fuperfluity of the former being infinitely preferable to the deficiency of the latter. But the reverfe with regard to trifles.' On first reading this paffage, we began to fufpect our Author for a fly wag, inclined to give a little amufement; but, howeven, we were foon convinced of his being ferious. As to his favourite use of the term precifion, as oppofed to prolixity, les him take it his own way; and if he has any diflike to method and perfpicuity, he has at least, the meric of confiftency with himfelf: great part of his pamphlet being compofed of diffusive declamatory dictates, and general aphorisms. But when he comes, in his own phrafe, by gradual approaches to the point, we find a few good obfervations on the impropriety of appointing military and naval governors over a free commercial people. As our Author would have the American bufinefs, if too much for the ufual fecretaries of ftate, referred to the board of trade; fo by a pun, he makes himself fomewhat merry, with that board: and is difpleafed that a poetical genius should have any concern at it; as he thinks there is no great congruity between courting the mufes, and calculating commercial interefts. To pafs over arguments often urged in favour of open trade and free fifheries, our Author would provide for the population of the colonies, by fitting out numbers of indigent and difappointed foreigners who refort to London, at the expence of the government, to fettle there. But while unfriendly fufpicions are entertained of the conduct and views of our American brethren, may it not admit of a doubt whether a concourse of foreigners transported to the American fhore, would continue better affected, or ftronger attached, to the mother country, than natural born fubjects? N. Art. 35. A Dialogue between the Two Giants at Guildhall, humbly addreffed to John Wilkes, Efq; to which is added a Verfification of Two of Mr. Wilkes's Pieces. 4to. I S. Steare. Electioneering wit; and like the reft of the fort, very clever while matters are in fufpence, and very filly when all is over. Art. 36. A Letter to the Right Hon. Thomas Harley, Efq; Lord Mayor of the City of London. To which is added, a ferious Expoftulation with the Livery, on their late Conduct, during the Election of the four City-members. By an Alderman of Lɔndon. 8vo. is. Bingley. Abufes the Lord Mayor for discountenancing, and the citizens for net elding, Mr. Wilkes. POETICAL. 9 POETICA L. Art. 37. An Ode to Liberty, infcribed to the Right Hon. Thomas An elegant compliment to Mr. Harley, on his fpirited conduct, at the late election for the city. Art. 38. The Prophecy of Liberty, a Poem, humbly inscribed to the Right Honourable Robert Lord Romney. 4to. I S. Pearch. We are told that the probability of a general act of infolvency gave rife to the following poem, and that the Author, who is a young attendant on the mufes, knows it to be fufficiently deficient in point of elegance: we advise him, therefore, by all means to withhold his attempts from the public eye till he is fufficiently proficient in that point. Under thefe hopes we shall indulge him with an act of grace for the prefent. And at the fame time we affure him, that he has no reason to despair of the future favour of the muse: For, however he may fail in judgment, he discovers a rich vein of poetry, which time will ripen and bring to perfection. .. Art. 39. Liberty depofed, or the Western Election, a fatirical Poem, in three Books. 8vo. Is. 6d. Almon. This is an allegorical poem against bribery and corruption; and though the fatire feems to be pointed against a particular borough in the west, it has been applicable of late to too many objects of the fame kind. There is both truth and fpirit in the following lines: This certain truth, O freemen, know, That knaves who snatch the veffel's steerage Pudet hæc opprobria nobis Art. 40. Poems; ludicrous, fatirical, and moral. 8vo. 45. Fletcher. We have here a new and elegant edition of Mr. Kenrick's well-known Philofophical Epiftles to Lorenzo; with fome fmaller pieces feparately communicated to the public, at various times, and conveyed through various channels of publication, as pamphlets, magazines, &c, &c. Art. 41. Art. 41. The Inamarato, a Poem. 4to. 2s. 6d. Owen. Stale fentiments and defcriptions, done up into a rhapsody of such rhymes as the following, on tea drinking: And news and nonfenfe echo from the lip Art. 42. for Ever! a Poem. 4to. Is. Newbery. Nonfenfe for ever! a filly poem, about patriotifm, and corruption, and the Thane, and every thing, and nothing. DRAMATIC. in Art. 43. Amelia. A Mufical Entertainment, of Two Acts. As it is performed at the Theatre-Covent Garden. 8vo. 1 s. Dodfley. By Cum The modesty of the Author's motto, fupercedes all criticism on this little Vox et præterea nihil. Art. 44. The Abfent Man: a Farce. As it is acted by his Majefty's Servants at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. 8vo. IS. Griffin. A laughable entertainment enough. The Abfent Man is taken from the well-known character of that stamp, in the Spectator. Art. 45. Oithona, a dramatic Poem, taken from the Profe Tranf lation of the celebrated Offian, as performed at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-market. Set to Mufic by Mr. Barthelemon. 8vo. 6d. Becket. From the character of this Compofer, we have no doubt but the mufic of this piece has great merit; but as a literary compofition, it appears to be an abfurd mixture of the majestic and the familiar, the fublime and the filly, the heroic and the nonfenfical. NOVEL S. Art. 46. Barford-Abbey, a Novel in a Series of Letters. I 2mo. 2 Vols. 6s. Cadell. Some parts of this novel are very affect ng; and the whole is not unentertaining: but there is too great a famenefs, together with a certain uniform ftiffness, in the ftyle of the feveral epiftles, notwithstanding the characters of the writers are fufficiently varied. The piece, however, on the whole, has confiderable merit as a romance; and has nothing in it of the loose or immoral caft. * By Miss Minifies. SERMON S. I. A Difcourfe addreffed to the Inhabitants of Newark, against the Mifapplication of Public Charities, and enforced from the following Text: Eccluf. iv. 1. My fon, defraud not the poor of his living.-By the Rev. Bernard Wilson, D. D.. Vicar of Newark, and Prebendary of Worcester.-To which is. added, a more full and true Account of the very confiderable and |