From the title of this volume it feems to be a pofthumous production, but bears the marks of fo much merit, that, if published in the life-time of the author, it could not have failed to diftinguish him by the poffeffion of refpectable literary abilities.

Prince Arthur: an Allegorical Romance. The Story from Spenfer Two Vols. 12mo. 6s. Riley.

THE

HE hero of this allegorical romance is taken from Spenfer's Fai y Queen, where, under the character of prince Arthur, is Sepictured magnificence, or that greatness of foul which confifts in the invariable practice of the moral virtues. The last fix books of Spenfer having been loft, the author of these volumes has endeavoured to fupply the defect by lengthening the narrative from his own fancy; at the fame time that' he has made confiderable alterations in various parts, to preferve uniformity, and bring the ftory to a regular conclufion. Though he has thus exercised both his invention and judg ment, he has been careful to maintain the beauties of Spenfer, as much as was poffible in the tranfmutation of the poem into profe; but as the execution will beft appear from a specimen, we shall lay before our readers an extract from the beginning of the romance.

In the fixth century there lived a powerful queen, whose name was Gloriana: her fame extended throughout all the Weft, and fhe was not only beloved by her own subjects, but respected or feared by all the neighbouring powers. According to the cuftom of the age in which the flourished, fhe ufually celebrated an annual feaft, during which many gallant knights, came from all parts at once, to give proofs of their fkill in chivalry, to behold the fplendour of her court, and to enjoy the pleafures of the feftival.

On one of thefe occafions, a tall, well-shaped, but unpolished young ftranger, prefented himself before the queen, and, as the manner then was, craved of her a boon. During the feaft it was not in her power to refuse fupplications of this kind, fuch being then the rules of chivalry. The requeft of the ftranger was, that he might be permitted to undertake the firft adventure which fhould happen whilst the festival continued; for at this time the injured and diftreffed came from far to folicit her protection or affiftance. This being granted by the queen, he immediately retired to fome diftance, and feated himself with great humility, on the ground; a fituation that feemed moft fitted to his uncourtly appearance.

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He had not remained there long, before a lovely lady, dreft in mourning weeds, entered the court of the palace, mounted on a white afs; fhe was followed by a dwarf, lead ing a warlike fteed, richly caparifoned, which bore the armour of a knight. Having alighted at the inner gate of the palace, the approached the throne with an air which declared her quality; and falling on her knees, informed the queen that her royal parents, after having long reigned the fovereigns of - an extenfive empire, had been confined, by a deftru&tive dragon, many years in a brazen castle, to which they were 'obliged to retreat to avoid his fury: fhe then humbly befought Gloriana to commiflion one of her knights, of who valour and prowess she was well affured, to attend her to this far diftant country, that through him her parents might be restored to their kingdom.

The young ftranger, hearing this request, inftantly arofe, and again proftrating himfelf before the queen, claimed her promife, and begged that he might be permitted to undertake the adventure. Gloriana greatly wondered at the prefumption of her unknown petitioner, as he seemed unused to arms; but, having before given her irrevocable promife, fhe readily confirmed it. The lady, alfo, prejudiced by his appearance, for fome time refused to truft her caufe in fuch unpromifing hands, but he ftill continued his importunities with fo much fervour, and affurance of fuccefs, that the at length told him, if the armour fhe had brought with her, would exactly fuit him, (and unless it did fo, he vainly flattered himself with fucceeding in the enterprize) she would accept him for her knight. With unabated confidence the ftranger fubmitted to the teft; and being accoutered in it, and adorned with all the ufual embellishments, he appeared the most graceful perfon in the whole company. The lady, aftonished at the alteration in his manner and deportment, (for in a moment he seemed to have received a courtly polish) no longer refused to accept him for her champion and after he had received the honour of knighthood, and the recreations of the feftival were at an end, they took leave of the queen, and fet out together on their journey, to the castle in which her royal parents were confined.

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The new-made knight wore upon his breaft a bloody crofs; the fame device was alfo wrought upon his fhield, as cognizances of his faith, and denoting the cause in which he was engaged. His port was now noble; and he gracefully beftrid his ftately steed, which feemed impatient of the curb. Though he was equally unconscious of guilt or fear, yet a folemn fadness, unfuited to his years, had spread itself over his manly countenance, that could only be attributed to the importance

portance of his prefent undertaking; for he had not only bound himself to releafe from their captivity the royal parents of his fair companion, but, like a true knight, he had refolved to avenge the cause of the injured, wherever he found them, and to redress every grievance that prefented itself, as he proceeded.

The lovely Una, for that was the lady's name, rode by his fide, upon her humble beaft, leading, in a filken line, a milkwhite lamb, an emblem of her own innocence. Equally pure was she herself; nor was the unschooled in every virtuous lore; yet a melancholy fat upon her brow, which fhewed that fome hidden care rankled in her heart. At a distance behind, impelled by no defires or fears, lagged her lazy dwarf, bearing on his back, fuch neceffaries for the journey, as his ftrength would allow.

One evening as they proceeded in this manner, beguiling. the time with innocent and inftru&tive converfe, a gathering ftorm obliged them to seek for fhelter in the covert of an adjacent grove, whofe lofty trees, clad in all their fummer's pride, rendered it impervious to the tempeft. The fpacious paths and alleys, with which it was interfperfed, appeared to be much trodden by the feet of men, and each of them to lead towards the centre; but, unfufpicious of any danger, they drew no inferences from the obfervation. Pleafed with the beauty of the place, and charmed with the mufic of the birds, of which an infinite number filled every spray, the knight and damfel forgot, for a moment, their more important concerns, and roved, enraptured, through many different avenues, admiring the beauties of the various trees which composed their afylum. The failing pine, the cedar proud and tall, the vinepropped elm, the knotted oak king of the forest, the mourn ing cyprefs, the laurel meed of conquerors and poets, the weeping fir, the willow worn by love-lorn paramours, the yew obedient to the bender's will, the myrrh fweet bleeding at each bitter wound, the fruitful olive, and the warlike beech, by turns attract their notice, and engage their admiration.

• Thus delightfully employed, they paffed their time away till the bluftering ftorm was overblown ;, when, intending to purfue their journey, they fought to recover the plain fromwhich they had been driven by it: but so many different paths and turnings prefented themselves, that they were foon bewildered, and wandered ftill farther from the wifhed-for track.'

In a work of this kind, it may be prefumed that poetical embellishments will be often facrificed to the lefs figurative nature of profe compofition; but if the narrative lofes in

point of ornament, it gains in that of perfpicuity; and we doubt not that this romance will afford entertainment to those who would trace the luxuriant invention of Spenfer, divested of the antiquity of his language.

FOREIGN ARTICLES.

Nouvelle Defcription du Cap de Bonne Esperance, avec un Journal hiftorique d'un Voyage de Terre, fait par Ordre du Gouverneur feu Mgr. Ryk Tulbagh dans l'interieur de l'Afrique, par une Caravane de 85 Perfonnes fous le Commandement du Capitaine Henry Hop. 8vo. Amfterdam.

THIS pretended new defcription of the Cape of Good Hope is almost entirely, and often literally, copied from that of Mr. La Caille, and contains a hort and fuperficial account of the discovery of the Cape by the Portuguese in 1499; who were at firft afraid to land there, but foon became more familiar, and rendered themselves odious by their cruelties; and of the landing of the Dutchman Van Riebeck in 1650, who fucceeded much better in gaining the affections of the natives, and founding that colony, fo highly interesting and beneficial to his countrymen. This account is fucceeded by a fhort defcription of the clime, fituation, town, bays, foil, fettlements, &c. and the natural hiftory of the Hottentots, entirely borrowed from count Buffon.

The journey into the inland parts of Africa was performed by a caravan of eighty five perfons, among whom there were feventeen Europeans, in 1761 and 1762. The whole account of it is comprized in 100 pages; and contains confirmations of many things already known; fome curfory relations of feveral tribes and nations hitherto unknown; and descriptions, with fome faithful and accurate delineations of feveral animals hitherto lefs perfectly known; for inftance, that of the male and female elephants, who are here alfo faid, fince the fettlement of the Europeans, to have retired farther from the Cape; that of the river-horse, (hippotamus;) of the young giraffe; of the rhinoceros, whofe wars with the elephant are here difcredited, as both of them are grazing animals. The zebra is faid to come no farther northwards than Angola and Congo. The gnou, a ruminating animal, is also accurately described and delineated.

Efai fur le Bonheur, où l'on recherche fi l'on peut afpirer à un vrai Bonheur fur la Terre, jufqu'à quel Point il depende nous, & quel eft le Chemin qui y conduit. Par M. l'Abbé de G. Vicaire General de Bordeaux. 8vo. Vienna.

THIS treatise is divided into eight fections. viz. Is there any genuine happiness to be hoped for in this world? Confideration of the obftacles with which our own errors and paffions obftruct our way to happiness. In what happiness confifts? How far it may be promoted or precluded by fenfual enjoyments? In what manner it is promoted by the pleafures of imagination and of reafon? And how it is promoted by virtue in general, and especially by benevolence, beneficence, and friendship? A fhort application of the principles here eftablished, to the different ages and ranks: finally, of religion, as the main requifite for happiness.

Both

Both the doctrines of philofophers, and the general confeffion and complaints of mankind, induce us to believe that true happiness is not to be found in this world; neither is corrupted human nature fufceptible of unmingled and unalterable felicity. Some comfort however yet remains, and, 'pour ainfi dire, un bonheur du fecond ordre!' Nay, fome perfons, fays he, who had left the world, and facrificed all their other concerns to religion, have afferted that they were actually happy.-In appreciating the relation of marriage to happiness too, our author feems to think a cloister the furest way to felicity; a way which we would however by no means explore ourfelves, nor recommend to any one even of our catholic readers.

In other refpects, our author's reafonings are very fenfible and judicious; and contain the most important precepts for difcerning and purfuing true happiness. His delivery is methodical and convincing; but his expreffions are fometimes too hyperbolical. He has richly seasoned his whole book with moral fentences, from ancient and modern writers in profe and verfe; generally by way of confirming and illuftrating his own fentiment; and fometimes in order to correct and qualify their's.

In his fection, Of the Pleafures of the Mind, he has occafionally inferted a concife and judicious review of fome ancient authors, and of the most eminent French writers of the age of Lewis XIV.

Enumeratio Numifmatum ex omni Metallo et Forma, que affervat A. Fr. Ith. Quarto. Bern.

THE collection of these imperial coins, poffeffed by captain Ith,

a member of the fenate of Bern, is remarkable on account of their feries, of the great variety of symbols and furnames, and the fcarce coins of relations of the emperors. The prefent enumeration was drawn up and published by Mr. Francis Lewis Haller, a young relation of the late celebrated Mr. de Haller, and a learned antiquary. Most of these coins have been found in Swifferland, and Mr. Haller indicates at every one the value affigned to each by connoiffeurs.

The feries begins with the dictator Julius Cæfar: here the word Cloacina is faid to be a furname of Venus, derived from a place called Cloacina, where the is fuppofed to have been worshipped. The catalogue ends with Arcadius.

Among the remarkable coins in this collection, we meet with an Antonia, of a larger fize, undoubtedly genuine; a fcarce coin found at Windith, reprefenting Drufus the fon of Tiberius, and Tiberius and Gemellus, fons of Drufus and of Livilla; a coin of Claudius with a head of Meffalina, in commemoration of the liberality which that emperor is faid to have fhown during the great dearth mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles; a Meflalina Nɛa He̟a, a Grecian coin from Nicæa; a Diva Augufta on a coin of Galba's, is faid to be Livia-Mr. Hartmann has prefented the library at Bern with a gold coin of Marciana, whofe apotheofis is expreffed by an eagle, inftead, as ufual, by a peacock; a Verus taking the field against the Parthians, has been found near Laufanne, and another ditto at Wiflifburgh; fome genuine ftamped coins of the Gordians; the tyrants; a beautiful coin of Hoftilianus; a well preferved and genuine Cornelia Supera; a Mariniana; numberless coins of GalTienus are found in Swifferland; Diana Felix, with the flag, is met with oftener than fifty times, in a variety of expressions, Cyriades, VOL. XLVI. December, 1778,

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