to truth and honour, in refpect of any other overfights, or le's guarded pofitions, which may poffibly be found in any other of his publications, befides thofe which have been touched upon in the foregoing difquifitions.'

To conclude the article, this pamphlet is a fenfible and fpirited performance, and, at the fame, time written with candour and good manners. The fubject is interefting and curious; for which reafon we have given a larger account of it than we ufually do of thefe polemical publications.

ART. ΙΧ. ΠΛΟΥΤΑΡΧΟΥ ΧΑΙΡΩΝΕΩΣ Αποφθέγματα βασιXéwvx spaтnywv. ID EST, PLUTARCHI CHERONENSIS Liber de Regum atque Imperatorum fcitè dictis, qua: Apophthegmata noncupantur. Recenfuit et ornavit STEPHANUS PEMBERTON, A. M. Col. Oriel. Oxon. Socius. Oxonii, e Typographeo Clarendoniano. 8vo. 5s. 6d. bound. White..

I

T is well known, that Theodore Gaza, being asked, which of the writers of antiquity he would wish to be preferved, if all but one of them muft neceffarily be loft; anfwered, Plutarch. Without determining whether this opinion was strictly juft, nothing can be more certain than that Plutarch is a most valuable author. His Lives are deservedly held in univerfal esteem ; and his Moral Works are particularly excellent, though they have not had the attention paid to them which is undoubtedly their due; and the want of which has, in part, been owing to their not being compofed with the elegance and beauty of a Plato, or a Cicero. Among the detached pieces of Plutarch, his Apothegms have confiderable merit. It has, indeed, been queftioned whether they are really his; and it is infifted upon, both by Xilander and Rualdus, that they were unworthy of him. But Erafmus, a name far fuperior to either of these two critics, is intirely of a contrary opinion. His words are so remarkable, that they deserve to be quoted. Plutarchus non tantùm in delectu cæteris præftat, verùm etiam in explicando. Habent enim Apophthegmata peculiarem quandam rationem et indolem fuam, ut breviter et argutè, falsè et urbanè cujufque ingenium exprimant In hoc itaque exprimendo mihi dilutior videtur Xenophon, fuffrigidus Herodotus, loquacior Diodorus, et Q. Curtius, ne pergam de cateris dicere; Plutarchus omnes implevit numeros.

After all, as Mr. Pemberton juftly obferves, in his fenfible and well-written preface, it is a matter of little importance, whether the Apothegms were collected by Plutarch, or by any other perfon, provided they are useful, and worthy of being read. Their general excellencies and utility cannot be denied, as they contain many curious and valuable fayings, and throw great light on the most eminent characters of antiquity. A

K 2

good

good separate edition of the Apothegms was much wanted, and fuch an edition is now prefented to the public, by Mr. Pemberton. He hath given a correct and elegant copy of the original text, hath paid a proper regard to the different readings, and his notes are both inftructive and entertaining. In short, the learned pains he hath taken to exhibit and elucidate the Apothegms of Plutarch, cannot fail of being deemed an acceptable fervice to the cause of ancient literature.

ART. X. Fables for grown Gentlemen. For the Year 1770. 4to. 2 s. Dodfley.

A

S, the Author of thefe Fables has done us the honour to take fome notice of us, it would be an unpardonable want of politeness not to acknowledge his compliment, in the firft place. It is as follows:

Let him alone; he's a Reviewer,

By fuch vile trash he gets his bread;
And for that reason, soyez seur,
He well deferves a broken head.
A flea out of a blanket fhaken,

A bloody-minded finner,
Upon a taylor's neck was taken,
Marauding for a dinner.

The flea attempted a defence,
The damage was fo finall,
That the offence

Was next to none, or none at all:
And furthermore, to fave his life,
Pleaded his children and poor wife.
That's not the cafe, the judge reply'd,.
The harm is fmall, 'tis not deny'd;
You did your worft, and had your

Die then, faid he,

Unrighteous flea,

Not for the deed, but for the will.'

fill:

By way of companion to the above fable we would recommend

The POET and the TAYLOR'S WIFE.

A poet at a chandler's fhop

Afk'd credit for fmall beer.

Quoth fhe, you fhall not have a drop!
'Twas but last year,

You told a pack of crazy tales;

I let you have both coals and bread;

For then you faid

That you fhould foon have cafh from fales
Of books, or fome fuch things,

And I fhould have my own--" Diabl
You're d-n'd unconfcionable,

There

There, look upon your files and strings!
You've got the remnants of the copies :
Thofe curs'd Reviewers spoilt the sale;
But now my hope is,

The rogues will all turn tail;
For I've compard them to a flea."-
Quoth fie,

Friend, that may be ;

But if you have no better way
Old debts to pay,

I would not truft you for a foufe,
Though you compar'd them to a louse.
A flea upon a taylor's neck!"

Get out you knave! fhe ftorm'd and cry'd;
What, though my husband was a taylor,
He made no failure,

Nor ow'd a fhilling when he dy'd.
Fine times, i'feck!

When fuch like vermin make a game
Of any man's good name!

Frowning, the feiz'd the poet quaking,

And drag'd him through the neighb'ring fewers;
Then told him, in this piteous taking,

To fling his dirt at the Reviewers.

Having thus balanced accounts with our Author, in his own ftyle,

In verfes that a dog might write,

If he could hold a pen;

we find ourselves perfectly in good humour with him, and shall give him all poffible fair play. There is true humour in the following fable, particularly in the conclufion, though, perhaps, it may not univerfally be understood:

A

gnat upon an ox's horn,

Clapping his wings, fang forth his praife,
Greater than the unicorn:

Hail, greatest beaft of all that graze!
Accept, great brute, my willing ftrain;
And, if my weight give you no pain,
Which I much fear,

Allow me to remain

To charm your bovine ear:
Great and mighty chieftain fay,
Whether fhall I go or itay?
The ox reply'd,

Where infignificance prevails,
You always meet with empty pride;
Depend upon't, it never fails:
To me, vain infect, 'tis the fame,
You may give over or go on ;

I neither felt you when you came,
Nor thall I miss you when you're gone.

Said Maupertuis, pray, read this fable,

And I'll explain it to the table.

Obferve Voltaire, that chirps and fings
Near Pruflia's king from night to morn
He is the gnat that claps his wings,
And fings upon the ox's horn:
Voltaire reply'd, the gnat fuits me ;
But why an ox? there I am dull;
As for the ox, faid Maupertuis,

I wish the ox had been a bull.'

The fourteenth fable contains fome very useful political inAructions; but it is certainly too late. It ought to have been put into the hands of grown gentlemen before the year 1770. A Fex contriv'd, though lock'd and barr'd, Contrivance was the Fox's trade;

To steal into a farmer's yard,

A la fourdine, by efcalade;
With appetites wicked and loofe,
Improv'd by travelling and art,
He fuck' the blood out of a goose,

Ravish'd a hen, and broke her heart.
To put an end to thefe lewd courses,
Before the caitiff was aware,
Surrounding him with all his forces,
The farmer caught him in a fnare.
He ftudied till he crack'd his brains,
The writers of thofe times relate,
To find out penalties and pains,
To fuit his cruelty and hate;
Revenge will help you at a pinch,
E'en when your parts begin to fail.
To make Volpone die inch by inch,
He ty'd a firebrand to his tail.
The Fox ran freight to Hodge's corn,
And caus'd as great a conflagration,
As when Wilkes came and blew his horn,

That, like the laft trump, rous'd the nation :
Turn'd out of doors with an intention

To get him baited well, and roasted;
Eut they pay'd dear for their invention,
They got him only nicely toafted.
With Bills of Rights to his tail ty'd,
With red-hot Humphry too he came,
And more combuftibles befide,

That fet all Brentford in a flame.
The ruin fpread, and made fuch hafte,
For all the engines they employ'd,
The neighbouring towns were foon lay'd waste,
And Middlefex was quite deftroy'd:

The flames reach'd London; but anon

'he wind chop'd round, or London too had gone.

Both

Both thefe examples are compleat;

I with fome folks would learn from hence
To know that no revenge is fweet,

Without a little common fenfe.'

And now dear, droll, dirty, jaunty Fabulist, having had our

full revenge of you,

And fuck' out your best blood,

(For fome you have not over good)
We turn you grazing,

To purge your groffer humours,
As horfes full of tumours,
Are fent to the falt marshes,

And, what is molt amazing,

Leave there their glanders and their farcies.

ART. XI. The Life and Adventures of Common Senfe; an histo rical Allegory. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Lawrence. 1769.

N our Review for April, 1769, p. 344, we mentioned the

hinted the Author's general defign. He now purfues the hiftory and adventures of the Family, and brings his narrative down to the beginning of the prefent reign, and the peace of 1763; of which Mr. Common Senfe expreffes his difapprobation by informing us that, a little before the definitive treaty was figned, his mother (Truth) together with Wifdom, Prudence, and Himfelf, took their departure for a diftant country, and have not vifited England fince.

This fecond volume is diverfified with many allufions to, and fatirical obfervations on, public events, fafhionable amufements, and noted characters.

In the reign of George II. Mrs. Prudence is introduced at court, to fuperintend the royal wardrobe, and to arrange and number his majefty's ftockings and pocket handkerchiefs: at the fame time that the greater departments were entirely difregarded, and the more expenfive branches of houfhold economy fuffered to run at fixes and fevens.

Public credulity is ridiculed in a recital of the famous story of the rabbit-woman, whofe impofture, amazingly abfurd as it was, met with almoft as much countenance as, many years afterwards, did the memorable ftory of Elizabeth Canning.

The adventures of Vanity are refumed, with an account of her fettlement at the court of Madrid; and with this part of the work is connected a sketch of the hiftory of the celebrated Mrs. Chy, her marriage with the D. of K. &c. &c.

The introduction of the practice of inoculating the fmallpox into this country, under the patronage of Genius, is another incidental event in the annals of Common Senfe.