36. The Tutor and Book-keeper's Guide in Accounts. 8vo. 15.6dHawes and Co.

The art of book-keeping, like the art of swimming, we think, is not to be attained by mere theory alone; very few ever become expert in the latter without confiderable practice in the liquid element, and we believe as few have made themselves mafters of the former without transacting actual bufinefs in the compting-houfe. There is no fort of difficulty in forming a regular system of accounts for conducting a man's affairs; and we even find among those who are entirely unacquainted with the principles of what is called the scientific method of book-keeping, as exact methods for their purpose as if they had perused the most celebrated books ever written upon this fubject.

In the work now under confideration, and which the unknown author infcribes to the teachers of accounts in Great Britain and Ireland, he feems to be of opinion that it far furpaffes in usefulness any other of the fame kind hitherto made public. This he endeavours to prove, not fo much by the excellence of his own performance, as by enumerating the errors which he thinks other authors have committed: how far this may be the cafe, we leave to the determination of the reader. In our opinion, however, this little treatife rifes rather above the degree of mediocrity, and may probably furnish the young learner with as much knowledge in the theory of this art, as it is worth while to beftow time to acquire.

37. Confiderations on the prefent Dearness of Provifions and Corn, in Great Britain; with Thoughts on a fuitable Remedy. By Thomas Elbridge Rooke, Ejq. 4to. 1s. 6d. Leacroft.

The caufes of the dearnefs of provifions are, according to this author, too great a number of horfes, ftill-houfes, a prohibition of the diftillery of wheat, too general an ufe of tea, the monopoly of farms, the goodness of the roads, and the numerous dealers in provifions. As the effects of a few of thefe fuppofed caufes may not be fo obvious, it will be proper to explain them upon the author's principles.

He is of opinion that the prohibition of difilling wheat is prejudicial, by occafioning a lefs number of hogs, poultry, and pigeons to be bred than formerly. That the general ufe of tea difcourages the rearing of horned cattle, by increasing the demand for butter; and that the goodness of the turnpike roads affords a ftrong inducement for driving cattle to market, to a greater diftance than before.

The fubftance of the method propofed by this author for leffening the price of provifions is, to increase the number of horned cattle, by obliging the dairy-man to wean one third of

his calves every year; and that all the British American wheat flour, now imported into Europe, fhall be brought to Great Britain.

38. A Letter to one of the Affociators at the Chapter Coffee-Houfe in London. In which are contained Free Thoughts on the propofed Revival of the Bounty for Encouraging the Exportation of Corn, and thereby rendering all Orders of Men tributary to the LandOwners; and on the Cruelty of the Laws, which, for the Emolument of the Land Owners, refrain the antient Freedom of Trade in Castle and Meats, infomuch, that whilft the Poor are farving, the Importation of Food is a Contraband Trade. 410. fecond Edit. 4d. Longman.

The fubject of this Letter being fully fpecified in the titlepage, it is fufficient to obferve that it is written with spirit and ingenuity.

39. Confiderations en the prefent State of Credit. 8vo. 3d. Fielden. Some useful hints and obfervations on the prefent precarious fituation of public credit, occafioned by the late alarming failures.

40. The Lottery Displayed; 8vo. 11. Towers.

This pamphlet enters into no political investigation of the theory of lotteries; but it exhibits such a full detail of the method of conducting them, as may gratify at least the curiofity of adventurers, if it fhould not otherwife prove useful. 41. Ten Minutes advice to every Gentleman going to purchase a Horfes. 12mo. Is.

Bell.

We meet here with ufeful rules for guarding against any impofition in the purchase of horses.

42. A Letter to Sir John Fielding, Knt, illuftrated with a Portrait

of a Monster. By Robert Holloway. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Bladon. The public are certainly indebted to this author, for affuming the invidious cenforial office of holding up to their view, fuch miscreants as ought to be the objects of univerfal deteftation. The portrait with which he here prefents us is truly that of a monster of the moral kind. We heartily with Mr. Holloway fuccefs in his laudable endeavours for promoting the interefts of humanity and public juftice; and that his efforts may be properly fupported by those who, as magiftrates, have it in their power to contribute to fo arduous an undertaking. 43. A new Prefent for a Servant-Maid. 12mo. 25. Pearch. This is an improved edition of a pamphlet which has long been confidered as ufeful.

44. An Epifle from Mrs. By to bis R1 Hfs the D. of Cd. 4to. Is. Battefon.

For mean poetry and fcurrilous invective, this epiftle is equally contemptible.

45. Trifles

45. Trifles. By Vortigern Crancocc, Esq. 8vo. 25. Bladon. Vortigern Crancocc, efq. of Crancock, in Devonshire, whose name is derived from cran, a crane, and cocc, a cock, your ancestors having always been remarkable for having long necks, and being early rifers, we earnestly recommend to you to put a lock upon your table-drawer, and to take care of the key, unless the rest of your Trifles, which are there depofited, be a little more modeft than those which your editor has taken from thence, and prefented to the public; as we are by no means of his opinion, that this little volume is proper for the perufal of Mifs Polly; and that raising ideas of a certain kind, and exciting our laughter therewith, renders them familiar without danger; and we are much in an error if, in the Tale of the White Swellings, Sally, though only thirteen, was the better for what fhe heard when Sir Donald and his lady were withdrawn into the room where the fopha was placed; at leaft, if we may guefs by the cunning jade's putting on fuch a face, that you would have fworn the had not been at the door to liften. Bating, however, the circumstance of indency, we shall be content, 'fquire Crancocc, to fee a few more of your Trifles; and of the two kinds, we give the preference to those in verfe..

If your editor, who is now your biographer, should hereafter be come your thanatographer, we fhall have no objection to his improving in archnefs, as we cannot always find the zeft of his prefent jefts. If biography has, as he fays, been fo maltreated by thofe into whofe hands the has had the misfortune to fall, as, instead of having her neck, her arms, and bosom, adorned with ftrings of gems and orient pearls, fhe has had a necklace of lambftones, bracelets of hogs-puddings, and a tucker of sheeps-guts; we cannot allow, that he has put the brightest stones of Golconda round her ivery neck, amethyfts of the Eaft on her alabafter arms, and catgut round her rofeate bofom. In confideration of his being fomewhat of an humourift, we are willing to overlook his fometimes talking nonsense, or what is much like it; but we advife him to keep a ftricter hand over himself in that point.

Of the Trifles he has now published, 'fquire, the best executed is, in our opinion, the tale of the White Swellings; but it is rather too indelicate to lay before our readers.

FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

46. The Chief Arguments of the Evangelical Fundamental Doctrine of the Univerfal Grace of God in Chrift Jefus. By Jo. Guftar Burgman. 8vo. German.

The author is a Lutheran, and paftor of a congregation in the Savoy, who finding that many of his flock frequently heard fermons preached by those methodists who, in the late Mr. Whitefield's manner, adopted the doctrine of abfolute predeftination, which caufed a confufion in their unfettled minds, he, at laft, found it neceffary to explain the doctrine which he thought to be the true one, in eleven fermons; and being requested, by the members of his congregation, to print the chief momenta of

his

1

his difcourfes, he has published them in a small tract, in which he explains this doctrine in a plain fenfible manner, .calculated for the capacity of his audience, chiefty confifting of mechanics.

The doctrine is fo well known, that it is ufelefs to say any thing upon the fubject; but we cannot help obferving, that our author makes predeftination a fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion, which, in our opinion, feems to be in direct oppofition to the doctrine of Jefus Chrift, who, in his days, found just fuch people as we do in ours, continually inquiring into fubjects which had no tendency at all to promote their falvation, and neglecting thofe points which were closely connected with the great aim of his miffion. He was one day afked, "Lord, are there few that be faved?" And he, as the profeffor of true doctrine, inftead of entering upon the merit of this question, only recommended the practical part of his religion to thofe inquifitive people; "Strive to enter in at the ftrait gate," It were to be wished that the ministers of the gospel would attend more to the spirit of the words of their Lord and Mafter, and infift chiefly upon the practice of the moral religion of Chrift, rather than perplex themfelves and their hearers with ufelefs fpeculations.

47. Dactyliotheca, i. e. a Collection of Gems from the beft Cabinets in Europe, for the Use of Artifts, in two thousand Impreffions. By Phil. Dan. Lippert, 2 vol. 4to. German.

The author collected, by a most incredible application and industry, more than three thousand impreffions of antique gems. He found, that at Rome one thousand in fulphur coft fifty ducats, and that the great diftance of that feat of antique curiofities eaufed their high price abroad, and that the fragility of the fulphur, and its difagreeable fmell, prevented many artists from buying fuch a fet of impreffions; Mr. Lippert, therefore, invented a kind of white terra cotta, which is a compofition of his own, and contains a good deal of a Saxon talc. It receives the most delicate impreffions; and by them young ftudents may be inftructed and improved, by ftudying the remains of the ancient artists. To make the whole ftudy more eafy and fyftematical, he has felected from his collection about two thoufand gems; the first thoufand of which contains mythological fubjects, reprefenting the divinities of various nations, but chiefly of the Greeks and Romans, with their emblems, fymbols, facrifices, &c. ; the laft thousand refers to hiftory, and reprefents the heroes, philofophers, and celebrated men of Greece and Rome, fome kings, and Roman emperors. The impreffions are all ranged in a chronological order, in drawers, fitted to boxes, exactly fimilar to a large folio, each of which contains one thousand, and both together coft fixty ducats, fomething more than the common price of one fingle thousand in fulphur at Rome. To facilitate the study of this ingenious collection, the author drew up the account now before us; in which he was affifted by feveral learned men, and particularly the late great connoiffeur of antiques and of the polite arts, Prof. Chrift, whofe catalogue of monograms of artists is fo well known. The whole defcribes, after an introductory dif course,

courfe, each gem, the fubftance it is made of, in what collection the original is to be met with; then he gives the contour of the figures, in a moft picturefque and mafterly manner, often in the words of Greek and Latin poets, explains the emblems and fymbols, takes notice of the manners, vafes, utenfils, arms, and other figures: diftinguishes many things which are often taken as fynonymous; for inftance, he fhews, by a figure, that the folium on which the divinities are feated has no back, and that the throne has a back, which is furrounded with victories, a cushion, and a footstool;

o that every explication makes the young artift better acquainted with mythology, hiftory, the art, and likewife the coftume of the antients, and muft of courfe greatly contribute to promote taste and the ftudy of mythology and ancient hiftory, and conduct the young ftudent to a grand and noble manner in executing the firft effays of his art.

48. Canuti Leem, Commentatio de Lapponibus Finmarchiæ, eorumque Lingua, Vita, & Religione priftina, cum fig. Copenhague, 4to, Danish and Latin.

The author was for many years miffionary among the Laplanders, and is now profeffor of the Laponic language. His performance is by no means fatisfactory the hiflorcal obfervations on the origin of this nation are in vain fought for in this book; the remarks on the manners and religion are written in a negligent ftyle, and betray, in more than one place, the fuperftitious turn of the author; the too numerous cuts are very badly executed.

49. Hiftoire Naturelle de l'Air & des Meteores. Par M. Abbé Richard, I-X. vol. Paris, 12mo.

This is an hiftorical collection of observations made on the air and its meteors, collected from the various publications on that fubject. New difcoveries and interefting experiments, like thofe of our ingenious natural philofopher Dr. Prieftly, mut not be expected in the compilation of the French abbé.

50. Jo. Ern Gunneri, Theol. & Phil. Dott. nec non Diæcefeos, Nidrofienfis Epifcopie Flora Norvegica, vol. I. cum fig. Copenhague, folio.

The learned Dr. Gunnerus, bishop of Drontheim, in Norway, had fo many opportunities to vifit the feveral parts of his country, and his philofophical turn prompted him to make the best ufe of them, by collecting the various fubjects of natural hiftory, that this, together with his extenfive knowledge of botany, enabled him to give a very accurate and complete Flora Norvegica. It is a pity, that the bishop obferved no order in the arrangement of the Norwegian plants. Some of them are new; but the most curious Alpine plants are referved for the second volume, which is now in the prefs. We wifh, however, that the engravings for the fecond volume may be executed with more accuracy and neatnefs than thofe of the first.

51. Practical Obfervations on the Ars Veterinaria. By Dr. Jo. Chrift. Polycarp Erxleben. Goettinguen, 8vo. Germ. Dr. Erxleben has done the public a real fervice, by communi

cating