anger for my marriage, and faid it may bee, I being fo neere, and to retourne without honouring her day, as I ever before had done, might be a caufe of her further diflike, but left it to myfelfe to do what I thought beft. My bufineffe of law therefore being ended, I came to court, and lodged there very privately, only I made myselfe knowne to my father and fome few friends befides. I here tooke order and fent to London to provide mee things neceffary for the triumph: I prepared a prefent for her majeftie, which with my caparifons coft me above four hundred pounds. I came into the triumph unknown of any. I was the forfaken Knight that had vowed folitarineffe, but hearing of this great triumph thought to honour my mistresse with my best service, and then to retourne to pay my wonted mourning. The triumph ended, and all things well paffed over to the Queene's + liking. I then made myselfe known in court, and for the time I ftayed there was daily conversant with my old companions and friends, but it fo fell out that I made no long ftay there: it was upon this occafion.' It must be confeffed that the noble writer, in the note on this paffage, fhews himself thoroughly fkilled in the language of knight-errantry; and had his lordfhip lived in the days of Quixotifm, he might have paffed for a towering genius. The reft of the memoirs turns chiefly on domeftick occurrences, or records anecdotes, in our judgment to immaterial to engage the reader's attention; though we can easily account for their appearing interefting to the noble editor, and his polite friend, as the memorialist may be confidered as a branch of his lordship's family. If it fhould be thought that, in the courfe of this article, we have taken too great freedom with a writer of his lordship's quality, let it be remembered that, in the republick of letters, there is no diftinction of perfons. No one is entitled to any pre-eminence in that commonwealth, but what is acquired by literary merit. No one there can plead privilege of Peerage. No Sovereign, there, is the fountain of honour: Genius is the only fource of diftinction. Indeed, authors of rank and fortune have, of all others, the leaft plea to be exempted from the feverity of criticifm. They, who + The Queen was undoubtedly advertifed that her forfaken Knight (for fuch indeed he was) had iffued forth from his folitarinefs to bask bimfelf in the funshine of her luminous countenance, and to gather courage and prowels from the beams of her bright eyes. Nothing, not even trifles, paffed abroad or at home, with which fhe was not acquainted. But as fhe had no immediate occafion for the fervice of Sir Robert Cary, her Majefty was determined, ftill to continue the outward fhew of her refentment, 'till fhe wanted him.' arc are born to ease and affluence, who enjoy otium cum dignitate' have time to be accurate. They may correct at their leisure' and publish when they please; but writers whofe talents, perhaps conftitute all their fortune, cannot always command fuch correctness. They may be obliged to publifh to the world what they have not fufficiently revifed in their clofets. Errors in them are more venial, and their writings fhould be viewed with a more indulgent eye. A Account of FOREIGN BOOKS. R BOUT twelve months ago, we made fome apology for the delays and irregularities, which we then forefaw the circumftances of war on the continent would occafion in our undertaking, with regard to foreign literature. At prefent, however, we have the fatisfaction to acquaint our readers, of the profpect of our furmounting, in a great measure, the difficulties we laboured under in this refpect; and hope, for the future, to give them a regular and early account of all books of confequence, that may be published in the feveral parts of Europe. To do this in the most fatisfactory manner, and to render this part of our work useful as well as entertaining, we purpose to give the earliest notice of the publication of fuch books as we may be informed of long before it is poffible for them to be tranfmitted to us, referving a further account of particulars till the books themselves come to hand, or till we are favoured with the critical animadverfions of our foreign friends, or receive fuch literary journals, as may, with fome confidence, be relied on. Das Recht der Vernunfft, in funff buchem, &c. That is, The Law of Reason, a poem, in five books. By Mr. Lichtwern, of the Pruffian council at Halberstadt. 4to. pages 128. Printed for Breitkopff at Leipzig. 1758. That Orpheus fubdued the ferocity of wild beats, in the forefts of Thrace; and that the ftones in the walls of Thebes danced after the lute of Amphion, are tales that may be literally credited, should we see our modern bards capable of performing the like feats with the magick of their fongs, and the animating harmony of their numbers. Hitherto we have bad little room to expect the fight of fuch a phænomenon. It must be owned, however, that the attempts which have been made Rav. March 1759. S of of late by fome daring poets, feem to have been owing to a prefumption of their being able to perform almoft equal wonders. To think of verfifying the uncouth jargon of metaphyficks, of harmonizing axioms, definitions, corollaries, and all the jarring links that compofe the chain of argumentative demonftration, is, doubtles, as extravagant a thought as ever entered into the head, even of a poet. Indeed, nothing but the success of fuch an enterprize feems fufficient to juftify the apparent abfurdry of the undertaking. As it is the opinion, however, of fome, who may be more competent judges than we can pretend to be, that Mr. Lichtwern has greatly fucceeded in this difficult attempt, we have the lefs to fay on the extraordinary nature of the defign; but muft efteem its difficulties furmounted, to be proofs of his great poetical abilities. Our Author has dedicated his poem to the King of Pruffia, in a fhort, but well-written and fpirited ode. He has addreffed the reader alfo in a preface, wherein he intimates his intention to inculcate, in the language of the mufes, the most important doctrines of philofophy and morals. As to his philofophy, it is founded on the fyftem of Wolfius; whofe principles he has, with much art, tranfpofed into his poem. We have ventured at the tranflation of a thort extract, to give our readers fome idea of the bold and animated manner of this German bard. After having afferted the existence and general attributes of the Deity, he proceeds as follows: But is there fuch a God?-Go, fceptic blind, Behold the various proofs creation yields; The loaded bough, rich vine, and bending ear; H's image fee, reflected from the fkies; Fid in the whirlwind, hear his voice aloud; On the whole, the merit of this performance is, for the moft part, merely poetical; we find little novelty in the fentiments; nor much to commend on account of the judgment, or perfpicuity, of the philofopher. As fuch, indeed, Mr. Lichtwern is, in many places, fuperficial: but, as his principal defign appears to have been that of recommending the knowledge of nature and its laws, to readers of tafte and vivacity, by cloathing truth in a more engaging dress than the common garb it wears in tedious profe differtations, the eulogies beftowed on him by the difcerning part of his countrymen are, in "a great meafure, deferved. It must yet be acknowledged, that the character of an Ethic poet cannot be juftly attained by the ftrongest efforts of mere poetic genius. Much more is required; acute penetration and folid judgment must accompany the powers of imagination, to reconcile poetry to the fevere criterion of truth. and good fenfe. Abhandlung von der beften art zu predigen, &c. Or, A Treatise on the Art of Preaching, By John Frederick Stapffer. 8vo. pages 56. Printed at Duisburg, for Gottiger. 1758.. The great reputation which Mr. Stapffer has already ac quired, by his theological and moral writings, cannot fail to recommend the smallest tracts of fo valuable a pen. The prefent little piece appears to be written with a moft laudable defign, to promote the interefts of chriftianity and true religion, by exciting the clergy to fuch a difcharge of their duty in the pulpit,. as may beft become the folemn office to which they are ordained, and the importance of the facred truths they undertake to make known and recommend. As the most diftinguifhed preachers of the proteftant communion, our Author has characterized Tillotson, Saurin, and Mofheim. The former, fays he, conftructed his fermons on a model, unknown before to his countrymen. He corrected the falfe tafte of the age, as to the formal bombaft, in which the truths of religion were delivered from the pulpit; introducing a noble fimplicity and perfpicuity of ftile, that carried with it all the force of conviction. He had always the difcretion to fuit the fubject of his difcourfes to the times and the circumstances of his hearers, difplaying and fupporting the divine truths of revelation, in a manner, that reduced its adverfaries to filence: whence it is no wonder that he met with so much fuccefs, and was honoured with univerfal approbation. Saurin generally preached to a numerous and brilliant affembly: he adapted therefore his fermons to the tafte of his audience, ftriving to conduct them to the truth, and to prevail on them, $ 2 by by the force of his reasoning, to embrace it. At the fame time, he equally addreffed their paffions, which he endeavoured to captivate by a glorious blaze of rhetorick, that fired his elocution, and animated all his compofitions. The ftile of his dif courfes, indeed, resembles a torrent, that bears down all oppofition they are, for the most part, however, too philofophical for common hearers, for whofe ufe they were not immediately intended. Mofheim differed from both Tillotfon and Saurin; in that he had the peculiar art of diftinguishing and dividing the various matter of his difcourfes, with the utmoft precifion. It was the defign and method of this celebrated preacher, to demonstrate the veracity of his doctrines, and fend his auditors away, not perfuaded, but convinced. To be able to fucceed in this, it required a confiderable share of knowledge and ingenuity in his hearers; and this he had a right to fuppofe them poffeffed of, as he preached chiefly on extraordinary occafions, and to polite and learned auditors. His diction rolls not, like Saurin's, with the rapidity of a torrent, but resembles a smooth, unruffled ftream, that flows gently on without interruption, After having thus diftinguished these three admired preachers, he cautions young divines against a fervile imitation of either. It is not, fays he, from a mere imitation, though of the best preacher in the world, that excellence can be attained. I know fome divines, who, by dividing their fermons into a variety of heads, and affecting peculiar precifion, think they have arrived at the perfection of Mofheim; though not a grain of either the force or perfpicuity, fo effential to his method, enters into their difcourfes. There are alfo hundreds of Saurinifts, who conceive they rival that admirable preacher, merely because they make the churches ring with their noify exclamations. Mr. Stapffer proceeds to lay down fome judicious rules, to be obferved in the formation of a good preacher. As we cannot, however, particularize all the feveral instructions given, we fhall transcribe only a few maxims and precepts, relative to the compofition of fermons in general. In the first place, no doctrines fhould be delivered from the pulpit, but fuch as are neceffary and useful to falvation and holinefs of life; fetting afide matters of vain curiofity, that ferve more to amuse the head than affect the heart; and above all, avoiding captious controverfy, and points, that tend only to embarrass the affections, and perplex the understanding. It is neceffary alfo, that the ftile and fubject of the difcourfe be immediately fuited to the capacity and turn of the auditors, that |