WE are the Promife of his future Correfpondence as an 7E are greatly obliged to Ordovix Philopatris for his valuable Communi cations, and esteem Honour to our Mifcellany. His elegant Production, juft received, shall certainly appear in our next. The Writer of a fenfible Letter, figned Nauticus, thanking us for the Entertainment he received in perufing the Memoirs of Admiral Lord Howe, in our laft, with whom he has often failed, and can vouch for most of the Facts, though he is aftonished where we could procure them;' is refpectfully informed, that it is fufficient that they are genuine, of which we were fully convinced before we published them, but it would be highly improper, for a Variety of obvious Reasons, to hint at our Sources of Information. The Youth of Seventeen, with a deal of good Senfe, has a very confiderable Portion of Genius, but it seems much too exuberant. Indeed, we cannot, from the Specimen he has tranfmitted to us, comprehend the Drift of his. Plan; which appears to poffefs much Originality, and to be by no Means deftitute of Merit. But we must not only make ourselves acquainted with it's true Tendency previous to Infertion, but muft alfo receive every Line of the Article compleat, before we can think of giving it a Place; as we never infert any thing which is to be continued, from an Anonymous Correfpondent. Perhaps this young Gentleman has undertaken too comprehensive a Plan: We are of Opinion he might fucceed very refpectably in fome short, lively Effay.The propofed Criticifm would be thrown away; as the Work alluded to is already held in the most fovereign Contempt by every Man of Sense who has ever perused it. We entirely agree with Lady Sh, that the Character fhe mentions is well worthy of a Place in our Biographical Department, and we fhall certainly take the first Opportunity of procuring the neceffary Information. If her Ladyship can fupply any Anecdotes for this Purpose, we shall think ourselves honoured by the Communication. The Verfes by S. S. are wholly inadmiffible: they are not only in almost every Line-ungrammatical, but even the Orthography is unpardonably defective. The Lines on Life, and thofe to the Memory of the late Marquis of Rockingham, are exactly in the fame Predicament. The Hints of Sir J. S. will be attended to in our next. The Lines on Mifs E. figned Leander, are as deficient in Poetry as in Candour: The British Magazine and Review fhall never convey either a Blush to the Cheek, or a Pang to the Bofom, of any Lady. We are obliged to W. H. Efq. R. Herbert, H. L. Xenophon, Academicus, T. S. Sappho, Meliffa, Emma C. and An Edinburgh Correfpondent, for the very flattering Marks of Approbation they have fo politely expressed. The Publication of a New Paper, intended to have been opened in our prefent Number under the Title of the TOUCHSTONE, is obliged to be deferred to another Month. Genuine Memoirs of the EMPRESS of RUSSIA, with a masterly Engraving of that great Princefs, from a capital Painting in the Poffeffion of his Excellency the Ruffian Ambaffador, will be given in our next. PREFACE. Tis, we believe, ufually expected, that the Editors of a Periodical Mifcellany fhould make their general acknowledgments for favours received, and endeavour to establish their claim to future patronage, at the commencement of every new volume. 1.The best proof of our gratitude, we prefume, is to be gathered from the manner in which the BRITISH MAGAZINE and REVIEW has hitherto -been conducted; and if this has proved fatisfactory, full credit will be given us, by the candid at least, for future exertions. That whatever abilities we may be thought to poffefs will increase under that fage tutor, EXPERIENCE, is extremely probable; but, we must take the liberty to fay, that the pains we have beftowed on the numbers already published, cannot be exceeded: of the former our readers will certainly have every poffible advantage; for we fhall, moft affuredly, never relax in the latter. Our plan of publishing on the TENTH of every month, instead of the first, must be approved by all who confider the utter impoffibility of giving a compleat account of the occurrences in any month, without waiting a few days after it's expiration; not only to be informed of fuch transactions as really happen during the laft five or fix days, but to have time to decide on their authenticity, before they are irrevocably registered. What would the world think of an Annual Publication, which promised a Compleat Hiftory of the Year 1783, to be publifhed at the beginning of next December? Would it not be iminediately exclaimed, This is abfurdity in the extreme; the propofers of fuch a work must certainly have loft their fenfes! And is there not at least equal abfurdity, equal want of reafon, in calling a Monthly Publication, which does not contain a fingle article of intelligence beyond the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of July, a Magazine for July. The trick of putting a later date, fometimes even the thirtieth day, to general articles, which do not require any date at all, and to which none can particularly apply, may poffibly deceive careless or ignorant readers, but men of fenfe readily difcover the fallacy. The various kind expreffions of approbation, not only of this important part of our defign, but of the novelty, refpectability, and candour, confpicuous throughout our whole plan, as well as it's general execution, tranfmitted to us by Characters whofe flightest praife is fame, we feel a pride an honeft one, we hope-in acknowledging. To the liberal recommendations of fuch perfons, we greatly owe the prefent celebrity of our work, and the proud boaft, that our labours, (notwithstanding the difadvantages of the word Magazine in our title-page, a word which has long been but too notorioufly fullied) find their way to the HIGHEST as well as to the most learned and ingenious CHARACTERS, in every enlightened nation of Europe, Afia, and America, And we pledge our bonour to the world, that we do not exceed the bounds of TRUTH, when A 2 We we folemnly declare, that feveral of these exalted Characters-whofe kindness can never be effaced from our memory-have abfolutely expreffed their wifh, that a higher price might be fet on the Numbers of the BRITISH MAGAZINE and REVIEW, which themselves and friends would gladly pay, to encourage a publication of fuch fuperlative elegance. Since the publication of this work, the fabricators of feveral common fixpenny Magazines have very modeftly owned-though fome of them had for years continued the now acknowledged impofition-that a Sixpenny Magazine is not worth a Farthing: and they have accordingly raifed their price to a fhilling each number; that they may at leaft refemble the BRITISH MAGAZINE and REVIEW-the fuccefs of which they have long beheld with a greedy eye-in the article which they deem moft important; and which, indeed, it requires no other qualification to imitate, than a tolerable portion of affurance. Let them imitate alfo the authenticity and variety of our Original Articles, the difinterestedness and liberality of our Strictures; and the methodicalArrangement of the different Materials, (which fome of them have, indeed, with abundant lack of skill attempted to copy;) as well as the goodnefs of our Paper, the neatnefs of our Types, and the very fuperior excellence of our delightful and of courfe expenfive Engravings, all from original Drawings, or capital Paintings, by Artists whofe Names conftantly appear to their respective performances; and we will wish them as much fuccefs as they may merit, or indeed as they can fairly obtain: for, as our good old friend Mr. TOBY SHANDY obferves This world, furely, is wide enough to hold us all!' THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. HILE vice, like a torrent, Earl of Marlborough, December 14, 1702; and the honour and manor of Woodstock, with the hundred of W pervades every rank, and ele- Wootton, were, in January 1705, vated station, and diffipated manners, are too generally effeemed fynonimous terms, it is with peculiar pleafure we feel ourselves enabled to delineate the character of his Grace the Duke of Marlborough; who, though equal in rank and opulence to any fubject, and of courfe as well qualified to obtain the fulleft gratification of every wish, feems to copy the amiable precedent of royalty, and to retain the freedom of a man, and the native independence of a British peer, untainted by example, and unawed by fashion, amidft an age of folly, levity, and corruption. His Grace is paternally defcended from a race of ancestors whofe names are facred to patriotifm and their country; and, by the maternal line, from the great and glorious John Churchill, firft Duke of Marlborough; whofe amazing victories raised the British name to fuch an eminence, that Envy can never tarnish the laurels he won, or Time confign them to oblivion. In confequence of the victory of Blenheim, and a train of fucceffes unparalleled in hiftory, the title of Duke was conferred on the then vefted in his Grace and his heirs for ever; rendering to Queen Anne, her heirs, and fucceffors, every year, for ever, at the Caftle of Wind for, on the 2d of Auguft, one standard or colours, with three fleurs de lis painted thereon, for all manner of rents, and fervices. The Palace of Blenheim was built at the public expence; and five thousand pounds a year, to be paid out of the Poft Office, were fettled by Act of Parliament, to keep it in perpetual repair. By his dutchefs, Sarah, daughter of Richard Jennings, Efq. of Sandridge, in the county of Hertford, John Duke of Marlborough had one son, and four daughters. In 1706, the manor and honour of Woodstock, with the Palace of Blenheim, were annexed by Act of Parliament to the inheritors of his Grace's honours and titles; which, as his fon had died in the preceding year, confequently went to his eldest daughter, Henrietta, Lady of Lord Godolphin, and the heirs male of her body; and then to all the other daughters fucceffively, according to priority of birth, and their respective heirs male. Lady Lady Godolphin dying without iffue, the title devolved on the fon of the fecond daughter, Charles Spencer, the fifth Earl of Sunderland, with eight thousand pounds a year of the firft duke's eftate; and, on the demife of his grandmother, Sarah, Dutchefs Dowager of Marlborough, on whom the Palace of Blenheim and Manor of Woodstock had been fettled in jointure, he gained a vaft acceffion of fortune. ral His Grace, who was distinguished as a man of courage, humanity, and every focial virtue, was, on the 25th of July 1758, appointed commander in chief of all the British forces intended to ferve in Germany under Prince Ferdinand of Brunfwick; and, in the following Auguft, conftituted Gene1 over all and fingular the foot forces employed, or to be employed, in his Majefty's fervice. But his Grace did not long enjoy thefe diftinguished honours; dying on the 10th of October, at Munfter, in Weftphalia, from whence his corpfe was brought to England, and buried at Woodstock. By his Dutchefs, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lord Trevor, his Grace had iffue three fons and two daughters. George, the eldeft, and prefent Duke of Marlborough, (being the twenty-fifth in paternal defcent from his ancestor Robert Defpencer, who came to England with William the Conqueror) and the third who has borne that title, Marquis of Blandford, Earl of Sunderland and Marlborough, Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, and Baron Churchill of Sandridge, a Lord of the Privy Council, Lord Lieutenant and Cuftos Rotulorum of Oxfordshire, a Governor of the Charter Houfe, High Steward of Oxford and Woodstock, Prefident of the Ratcliffe Infirmary at Oxford, Ranger of Whichwood Foreft, Knight of the moft noble Order of the Garter, and LL.D. was born on the 26th of January 1739, and fucceeded to the honours and titles of the family on the demise of his father in the year 1758. Having received a finished, though private education, his Grace fet out on his travels; and how much his natural tafte and genius were improved by feeing foreign countries, may eafily be judged, from that juft judg ment, elegance of tafte, and love of fcience, which the Duke of Marlborough has conftantly difplayed. At the time of the late duke's death, he attended on him in quality of aid-ducamp; and, a few years after, was appointed a captain in the 20th regiment of foot, on his return from his travels, but afterwards refigned. In April 1760, his Grace was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Cuftos Rotulorum of Oxfordshire; and he was continued in thofe offices by his prefent Majefty, at whofe coronation he carried the fceptre with the cross. In 1762, the Duke of Marlborough was appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Houthold; and, next year, Lord Privy Seal. But thefe places he foon refigned. Naturally fond of a domeftic and regular life, his difpofition ill agreed with the bustle and inconvenience of office. Born to independence, and warmly attached to the happieft gifts fhe can confer, he fought not for gratification from the idle difplay of pomp, the objects of ambition, or the proftituted breath of popular applaufe. The honours which have been conferred on him by the favour of his fovereign, or delegated by different communities, derive luftre from their noble poffeffor. Connected with many of the first families in the kingdom, and fupported by immenfe and princely revenues, were his Grace fond of the charms of ambition, and the trappings of state, we have reafon to believe that he might long fince have poffeffed the moit important office which a British subject can enjoy; and every fincere lover of his country will probably join us in the wifh, that thofe virtues and acquifitions which fo eminently adorn the private nobleman, had been difplayed in a ftation where they must have enfured the higheft credit to his Grace, and confequently have proved of the greatest public utility.... But if we wave the confideration of |