588 
‘are highly comic, but never coarfe; his 
defcriptions are rich in poetic language 
and allufion; but both the one and’ the 
other flow from his pen {fpontaneovily, 
without affe&tation, without ftudy. We 
could wifh Mr. Hayley to reprint his three 
quarto volumes in unifor mity with feme 
o¢tavo edition of the poet’s works: he 
would then confer an additional favour on 
the pubic. 
Mr. Bowen has publifhed ** 4” Ac- 
count of the Life of JamMES Beatrice, 
PED oe. 
Mr. Bowen has undertaken a tafk to 
which his frength is unequal. He has 
given an ulfeful narrative of the events of 
Dr. Beattie’s life; but he is not compe- 
tent to appreciate h's philofophical cha- 
racter and literary attainments. 
Two or three fketches of the ** Life” 
of that great philofopher, and very excel- 
lent man, Dr. PRIESTLEY, have been offer- 
ed to the public, but not one of fufficient 
intereft to be mentioned in this place. 
We are cxceedingly happy to fee pub- 
lifhed a new edition, in two oétavo vo- 
lumes, of ** Memoirs of the Life of Git- 
BERT WAKEFIELD,” written by himfelf, 
with his lateft corre€tions, and notes by 
the editor ; towhich is fubjoined an ap- 
pendix of original letters. The firft vo- 
lume confifts:of the memoirs of Mr. 
Wakefield, confiderably altered and 
amended, written by himfelf, down to the 
year 1792, and of letters to his friends.— 
The fecond volume confifts of a continu- 
ation of his liile, by two of his intimate 
friends ; and an appendix, containing his 
effay on alphabetical charaéters, which 
was never befere publifhed, except in the 
Manchefter Memoirs ; fome letters of 
Profeffors Heyne and Jacobs ; extracts 
from his printed Defence, and his addrefs 
to the Judges ; an imitation of the firft 
fatire of Juvenal; and two letters on the 
literary and private chara&er of Mr. 
Wakefield, the one by Dr. Parr, and the 
other by ‘‘a Clergyman of the Church of 
England.” 
The prejudices once entertained againft 
this accomplifhed fcholar, this ardent vo- 
tary of learning, truth, and virtue, are 
every day declining. The prefent vo- 
lumes bear unequivocal teftimony to the 
uprightnefs of his principles, the perfeét 
difntereftednefs of his conduét, the 
warmth of his affections, and the general 
excellence of his heart. 
As fome hafty unfounded fufpicions 
were at one time in circulation that the 
Bifhop of Lia _— was at leaft not inimi- 
Retrofpedt of Dom»ftic Literature —Biography. 
cal to the profecution of Mr. Wakefield, 
for his Reply to the Addrefs of the Right 
Reverend Preiate, it is due to the reputas 
tion and houour of the latter to give the 
greatelt publicity to the following note, 
which the Bifhop of Llandaff fent to Mr. 
Wakefield, on receiving from him a copy 
of the obnoxious pamphlet : 
CoS RG 
‘«] laft night received your Reply to fome 
parts of my pamphlet, and apprehending that 
I am indebted to you for the prefent of it, E 
take the firft opportunity of returning you 
my thanks. I will not enter into a difcufiion 
of the points on which we differ, being too 
conf{cious of the fallibility of my own judg- 
ment to be eager in prefiing my opinions on 
any one. J] have always held your talents 
and induftry in the higheft eftimation, and 
have a fincere hope that the time wilt.come 
when they will be noticed as they ought to 
be. I am, Sir, your faithful fervant and well 
a ‘“; R, LeanDAFF.” 
© The Correfpondence of the late JouN 
Winxes with his Friends.’ Printed 
from the original MSS. bequeathed by his 
daughter Mifs Wilkes to Mr. Peter Elms- 
Tey ; in which are introduced memoirs of 
Be life, by john Almon, with a portrait 
of Mr. Wilkes, engraved by Caroline 
Watfon, and fac-fimiles. 
This eaorke confifis of the authentic cor- 
refpondence of this truly celebrated cha- 
racter with his family and friends during 
the courfe of his long and/aétive life. The 
whole is interfperled with accurate and 
fatisfatory memoirs of his life, and with 
curicus and intereiting anecdotes, by his 
contemporary bocklelier and friend, Mr 
John Almon, always efteemed by the pub-. 
lic for his Life of the Earl of Chatham, 
and other works. Of this publication we 
fhall briefly ftate, that the editor has af- 
forded his readers a moft agreeable enter- 
tainment. He has fulfilled his engage- 
mest to the public, and has merited well 
of the literary and political world, for the 
obvious fidelity and judgment with which 
he made his feletions from the papers en- 
trufted to him by Mr. Wilkes’s family 
and friends. 
It may be proper to notice, for the fuke 
of guarding the public againft a gro/s im- 
pofition, that, at the moment in which Mr. 
Almon’s work was about to appear, a 
wretched coile@ion of futile and vminte- 
refting letters, of a mere domeitic and pri- 
vate nature, written by Mr. Wilkes to 
his daughter, were anonyincutfly obtruded 
on the public, and unwarily purehafed by 
many perfons inftead of Mr. Almon’s 
work. 3 
7 
