His unrivalled excellence, is an iron countenance, an in. Bexible hardihood of feature, an invulnerable impenetrable afpect that nothing can abash, no crimson tinge, that stares humanity from the justice-feat, and defies the tear of pity. Charity, it is faid, covers a multitude of fins, and inhumanity implics a depravity of heart, that gives the owner credit for the poffeilion of untold crimes.' Lord Mansfield has the fingular happiness of fetting with a mild, pleafing luftre, while in his courfe he has been obfcured by ftorms, eclipfed by faction, and difcoloured by party zeal. Our author is a little inconfiftently his defender in the most difputed parts of his life, and at the same time the herald of lord Camden's conftitutional decifions. Lord Mansfield has been accused of adhering to equity rather than law, of limiting the decisions of a jury to the fact only, of being the abettor of defpotifm, and the fecret friend of the house of Stuart. On each subject, our author defends him with zeal, though, on all, he is not equally defenfible. One of the excellencies of the English jurifprudence is, that it is known, which is obviated by the equitable interpretation, for the opinions of equity must differ in different perfons. It is not, however, one of the leaft of Jord Mansfield's merits, that the accuracy of his distinctions and the foundness of his judgment prevented the nation from feeling any inconvenience in confequence of this arbitrary interpretation: in other hands, it might not be conducted fo unexceptionably, and we object rather to the principle than to the noble lord's use of it. Of lord Camden's life, the conclufion is fullied with one blot: it is a fatal one, which our author cannot excufe.-He is prefident of the council in the administration of Mr. Pitt. The human mind is pained in contrasting the meridian fplendor of this once luminous character with its prefent dusky decienfion. He, who was the champion of liberty, the friend of Chatham, and the competitor of Mansfield; he, who once thunned no public queftion, and who was confequently followed by the admiration and gratitude of the kingdom, feems now exert ing only the languid remains of eloquence, and exhaufting the dregs of wisdom, impregnated with the weaknef of dotage, as if careless of the glory that should have concluded the career of his earlier fame.” Lord Bathurst was undoubtedly indebted to circumftances, and the temper of the times, for his political diftinctions; yet with talents, if not brilliant, refpectable; with legal knowledge, if not extenfive, correct, he deferved not the indignity with which he is treated. Sir Richard Arden, lord Kenyon, and fome others, feel the feverity of our author's farcafms, VOL. LXX. Sept. 1790. U and and his fatire from the fame caufe: they are of the oppofite party. Lord Loughborough's merits, for a fimilar reafon, are perhaps too highly exalted, and his failings artfully glossed over, or properly omitted. We shall conclude our extracts with fome paffages of a pos litical nature: they form the conclusion of the life of the attorney-general. It had formerly been accepted as a maxim, that thefe great crown officers should stand forth as ftrong minifterial holds in the house of commons; but moral and political data, as we have more than in this place obferved, have occafionally given way to progreffive improvement. Our present happy minifter has learned to conduct the nation, if not honourably with respect to himself, at least fafely, without any fuch foreign aid, or indeed any aid at all: he is the refponfible first lord of the treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer; and befides these, generally conceived first commiflioner of the admiralty, the fecretary at war, and the fecretary of state-cum multis aliis. He is the Atlas of the flate, and his conduct feems to difcover an ambition of standing alone, unfupported by any abilities but his own; we should not be furprised (having been called to the bar), if he was alfo to do the bufinefs of the court of chancery. Lord North monopolized the abilities of the kingdom in defence of his measures, having enlifted under his banners the formidable names of Thurlow, Wedderburne, Norton, and De GreyWho are the champions of Pitt ?rifum teneatis!-Sir Richard Pepper Arden, Mr. Bearcroft, and fir Archibald Macdonald!!!' The fecond volume, containing the lives of Meff. Erkine, Pigot, Mingay, Garrow, &c. is faid to be ready for the prefs, awaiting the public judgment upon the prefent.' We have paid due tribute to the learning and abilities difplayed in this work, but are not perfectly fatisfied refpecting the propriety of fimilar publications. Our author certainly avoids private fcandal; but when political herefy is allowed to diftort the judgment of the biographer, the injury done to individuals is probably not lefs than by the profeffed fatirift, who shamelely blazons every fecret fault to render his work the object of more general attention. We would advise the author to proceed no farther. A Sketch of the Lives and Writings of Dante and Petrarch, with fome Account of Italian and Latin Literature in the Fourteenth Gentury. Small 8vo. 2s. 6d. Boards. Stockdale. W 7E have read this elegant Sketch with great pleafure; and, if it had been styled of the Lives' and literary Characters of Dante and Petrarch,' the title would have been more suitable to the contents. The author, with an apparent fondness for the the claffical productions of the Italian poets, unites a correct tafte to an intimate acquaintance with the best modern philologifts, taking the term modern in its moft extenfive fenfe, to mean the writers fince the revival of literature under the aufpices of Leo X. But we cannot, with propriety, enlarge our account of this little volume, fince the ground is so beaten, that it is difficult to find a new path; and much of what our author has faid has already occurred in other works. Yet he ought not to be confidered as a copyist: he has employed his own words; and very generally given a pleafing and advanta geous view of the fubject. Some of the facts, relating to the revival of learning in the fourteenth century, are, if not new, very interesting, and not commonly known. That rhyme was ufed by the Troubadours, he thinks an eftablished fact; but he adds, that it was first used in the Leonine verfes, which exifted long before thofe of Provence, is, we are led to conjecture, indifputable.'-What is conjectured can be at beft only probable, and the rhyme of the Leonine verfes is not generally allowed. We shall felect a fhort fpecimen from that part of the work, which will most probably be new to many of our readers; . As I have fpoken of him (Albertino Muffato, the historian of Padua) only as an hiftorian, it is but proper to mention him as chief restorer of Latin poetry. His three books of the Siege of Padua his eclogues, elegies, epitaphs, hymns-and his two tragedies, Ecerinis and Achilleis, the first of which is the fate of Ecerinis, tyrant of Padua -are evident marks of poetical talents. To fuppofe that thefe tragedies are conducted with the proper rules of unity and time, although on the plan of the Greek drama, would be abfurd; fince they are but bad copies of their bad original, Seneca. To speak the truth then, however, they have been faid to be the first regular tragedies fince the barbarous ages, they are uninterefting, poor, and inconfiderable. But to Muffato the greatest praife is due for attempting to revive and reanimate the flumbering fpirit of tragedy, buried under the gloom of ignorance for fo many ages. To a man therefore whofe merits are fo little acknowledged, I feel a plcafure in communicating my tribute of praife, trifling as it is, and in mentioning a name fo confpicuous in the annals of modern learning. The study of the Italian language in the universities proceeded from difpofition and tafte; that of the Latin, from a fenfe of its fuperiority, and a defire of reputation. It was not his fonnets that procured Petrarch the diftinguished honour of being crowned in the Capitol-it was to his Latin poem "Africa," his eclogues, and his epiftles, that he owed all his glory.' We cannot leave this little work without our reccommenda tion: it may be read by many with advantage; and by every one with pleasure. The Grave of Howard. A Poem, by W. L. Bowtes. 419. 25. DodЛley. VIRTUE and merit of every kind, however confpicuous at the time of its action, becomes doubly interefting and important at that hour when the laft fcene of its exiftence is clofed as the great luminary of heaven charms us less by its brightness, while its orb is vifible, than by the glowing colours that are diffufed over the fky at the period which fucceeds its fetting. Such probably are the general feelings refpecting the extraordinary perfon whofe death is here lamented. A plan fo novel in its defign, and fo widely beneficent in its effects, as that which was firft conceived and carried into execution by Mr. Howard, every one beheld with a kind of enthufiafm, and what few would have ventured to undertake, all confpired to admire and applaud. This admiration is now increased by the regret which we feel at his lofs: and we are at this time peculiarly difpofed to dwell with pleasure on the eulogies that are paid to his worth. When efteem and reverence are heightened by compaffion, the excellencies of a favourite character have their fulleft impreffion on our minds and panegyric is never fo fuccefsful in exciting our emotions, as when it celebrates that virtue which is irrecoverably fnatched from our view. Mr. Bowles was one, among many others, who employed his pen in the praise of Mr. Howard, while he was living. In this fecond effufion, on the subject of his death, he has brought together the most striking and poetical circumstances that are fuggefted by the event itself, the manner of it, and the country where the laft fcene of his life was exhibited. The Poem begins with an abrupt addrefs of great fublimity and grandeur, debased by some little errors, and one prosaic line. Spirit of death, beneath whofe pinions dread, The The feelings which will naturally be excited in those who were once the objects of Mr. Howard's benevolence, are finely defcribed. After lamenting what all must indeed lament, he confoles himself with the idea, that it was the will of heaven the spirit should at length ceafe from its illuftrious task, and having conversed so long with all the various scenes of human mifery, fhould pass to those regions where it is never more experienced. The place of Mr. Howard's death fuggefts to the writer's fancy many claffical images, mixed with fome striking fentiments concerning the effect which may be produced on the favage inhabitants of thofe countries. The Tartar and the Coffack, the native of the mountains of Thrace, of the Don and the Volga, and the boundless forefts of the North, will view his grave, and be taught from hence the leffon of humanity and benevolence. The impreffion of awe on the minds of the Turks, when their feet fhall approach the fhore, is well imagined, and the feelings of the Briton whofe wanderings fhall lead him to the fpot, are described in a manner that shews the author's fenfibility and enthusiasm. When o'er the founding Euxine's ftormy tides, In hoftile pomp the Turks proud navy rides, Bent on the frontiers of the imperial Czar, To pour the tempeft of vindictive war: If onward to thofe fhores they haply steer, Where, Howard, thy cold duft repofes near: Whilft o'er the wave the filken pennants ftream, And feen far off the golden crefcents gleam Amid the pomp of war, the fwelling breaft Shall feel a ftill unwonted awe impreffed, And the relenting Pagan turn afide To think on yonder fhore the Christian died.' If we have any thing to blame it is fometimes a negligence in respect of harmony, fometimes a little profaic falling off." It matters not' is an expression much beneath the dignity of the subject. 'O'er Howard's grave thou shalt impaffion'd bend,' would be improved by reading impaffion'd before thou shalt ; and the concluding line in the four following is weakened. by the introduction of a circumftance prior in point of time. to what goes before, and by recurring to general imagery after having described particulars. The cold unpitying Coffack thirfts no more, U 3 The |