REVIEW [1] OF AN ESSAY ON THE WRITINGS AND GENIUS OF POPE. This is a very curious and entertaining miscellany of critical remarks and literary history. Though the book promises nothing but observations on the writings of Pope, yet no opportunity is neglected of introducing the character of any other writer, or the mention of […]

REVIEW OF A FREE ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF EVIL [1] This is a treatise, consisting of six letters, upon a very difficult and important question, which, I am afraid, this author’s endeavours will not free from the perplexity which has entangled the speculatists of all ages, and which must always continue while […]

REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, FOR IMPROVING OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE, FROM ITS FIRST RISE; In which the most considerable papers communicated to the society, which have, hitherto, not been published, are inserted, in their proper order, as a supplement to the Philosophical Transactions. By Thomas Birch, D. D. secretary to […]

Account of a book entitled an historical and critical enquiry into the evidence produced by the earls of Moray and Morton against Mary queen of Scots, etc. With an examination of the reverend Dr. Robertson’s Dissertation, and Mr. Hume’s History, with respect to that evidence. We live in an age, in which there is much […]

LETTER ON DU HALDE’S HISTORY OF CHINA, 1738. There are few nations in the world more talked of, or less known, than the Chinese. The confused and imperfect account which travellers have given of their grandeur, their sciences, and their policy, have, hitherto, excited admiration, but have not been sufficient to satisfy even a superficial […]

The universal regard, which is paid by mankind to such accounts of publick transactions as have been written by those who were engaged in them, may be, with great probability, ascribed to that ardent love of truth, which nature has kindled in the breast of man, and which remains even where every other laudable passion […]

[1] The first effect, which this book has upon the reader, is that of disgusting him with the author’s vanity. He endeavours to persuade the world, that here are some new treasures of literature spread before his eyes; that something is discovered, which, to this happy day, had been concealed in darkness; that, by his […]

REVIEW OF FOUR LETTERS FROM SIR ISAAC NEWTON TO DR BENTLEY Containing some arguments in proof of a Deity. It will certainly be required, that notice should be taken of a book, however small, written on such a subject, by such an author. Yet I know not whether these letters will be very satisfactory; for […]

From Portsmouth to Kingston upon Thames, through Southampton, Wiltshire, etc. with miscellaneous thoughts, moral and religious; in sixty-four letters: addressed to two ladies of the partie. To which is added, an Essay On Tea, considered as pernicious to health, obstructing industry, and impoverishing the nation; with an account of its growth, and great consumption in […]

No. 203. Tuesday, February 25, 1752. Cum volet illa dies, quae nil nisi corporis hujusJus habet, incerti spatium mihi finiat avi.OVID. Met. xv. 873. Come, soon or late, death’s undetermin’d day,This mortal being only can decay.WELSTED. It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in futurity. The time present is […]

No. 204. Saturday, February 29, 1752. Nemo tam divos habuit faventes,Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceit.SENECA. Of heaven’s protection who can beSo confident to utter this?–To-morrow I will spend in bliss.F. LEWIS. Seged, lord of Ethiopia, to the inhabitants of the world: To the sons of Presumption, humility and fear; and to the daughters of Sorrow, […]

No. 205. Tuesday, March 3, 1752. Volat ambiguisMobilis alis hora, nec ulliPraestat velox Fortuna fidem.SENECA. Hippol. 1141. On fickle wings the minutes haste,And fortune’s favours never last.F. LEWIS. On the fourth morning Seged rose early, refreshed with sleep, vigorous with health, and eager with expectation. He entered the garden, attended by the princes and ladies […]

No. 206. Saturday, March 7, 1752. –Propositi nondum pudet, atque eadem est mens,Ut bona summa putes, aliena vivere quadra.JUV. Sat. v. 1. But harden’d by affronts, and still the same,Lost to all sense of honour and of fame,Thou yet canst love to haunt the great man’s board,And think no supper good but with a lord.BOWLES. […]

No. 207. Tuesday, March 10, 1752. Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, nePeccet ad extremum ridendus.–HOR. Lib. i. Ep. i. 8. The voice of reason cries with winning force,Loose from the rapid car your aged horse,Lest, in the race derided, left behind,He drag his jaded limbs, and burst his wind. FRANCIS. Such is the emptiness of […]

No. 208. Saturday, March 14, 1752. [Greek: Aerakleitos ego ti me o kato helket amousoi,Ouch hymin eponoun, tois de m’ episgamenoi;Eis emoi anthropos trismurioi; oi d’ anarithmoiOudeis; taut audo kai para Persephonae]DIOG. LAERT. Begone, ye blockheads, Heraclitus cries,And leave my labours to the learn’d and wise;By wit, by knowledge, studious to be read,I scorn the […]

No. 196. Saturday, February 1, 1752. Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum,Multa recedentes adimunt.— HOR. De Ar. Poet. 175. The blessings flowing in with life’s full tide,Down with our ebb of life decreasing glide.FRANCIS. Baxter, in the narrative of his own life, has enumerated several opinions, which, though he thought them evident and incontestable at […]

No. 198. Saturday, February 8, 1752 Nil mihi das vivus: dicis, post fata daturum.Si non es stultus, scis, Maro, quid cupiam.MART. Lib. xi. 67. You’ve told me, Maro, whilst you live,You’d not a single penny give,But that whene’er you chance to die,You’d leave a handsome legacy:You must be mad beyond redress,If my next wish you […]

No. 199. Tuesday, February 11, 1752. Decolor, obscurus, cilis. Non ille repexamCaesariem Regum, nec Candida virginis ornatColla, nec insigni splendet per cingula morsu:Sed nova si nigri videas miracula suai,Tum pulcros superat cultus, et quldquid EvisIndus litoribus rubra scrutatur in alga.CLAUDIANUS, xlviii. 10. Obscure, unpris’d, and dark, the magnet lies,Nor lures the search of avaricious eyes,Nor […]

No. 197. Tuesday, February 4, 1752. Cujus vulturis hoc erit cadaver?MART. Lib. vi. Ep. lxii. 4. Say, to what vulture’s share this carcase falls?F. LEWIS TO THE RAMBLER. SIR, I belong to an order of mankind, considerable at least for their number, to which your notice has never been formally extended, though equally entitled to […]

No. 200. Saturday, February 15, 1752. Nemo petit, modicis quae mittebantur amicisA Seneca, quae Piso bonus, quae Cotta solebutLargiri; namque et titulis, et fascibus olimMajor habebatur donandi gloria: solumPoscimus, ut caenes civiliter. Hoc face, el esto,Esto, ut nunc multi, dives tibi, pauper amicis.JUV. Sat. v. 108. No man expects (for who so much a sotWho […]