-

At p. 86. we have part of Gray's Elegy.
can honour's breath inspire

The fenfelefs duft, or wake its native fire?

Can trophied monuments, or fculptur'd ftone,

One moment flatter, when the foul is gone?'

Were not further exemplification needlefs, we might give inftances from every page of the Epiftle from Petrarch to Laura.

Independently, however, of thefe blemishes, the poems which we have noticed, poffefs many juft and ftriking thoughts, clothed in elegant and forcible language. Our readers will not be dif

pleased with the following extract:

Unequall'd Clodia! faireft of the fair!
The pride of Leic'fter, and the Mufe's care!
E'en thou, at laft, fhalt yield to nature's lot,
Thy beauty vanish'd, and thy name forgot!
The rofe and lilly, which fo fweetly grace
The brightening features of thy youthful face,
Thofe eyes that dart a conqueft in each glance,
Thofe feet that fhame the graces in the dance,
Muft foon or late fubmit to Nature's lot,
Their owner vanish'd, and her name forgot!
Refiftlefs magic fhall no longer roll

From those bright eyes, and fix the captive foul:
No more, as gaily thro' the dance you move,
Delight fhall steal the rapt admirer's love,
Or rob fome hapless virgin of her fwain,
While amorous Cupids flutter in thy train:

Some other maid, when thou shalt bloom no more,
Will fhine the little goddess of the hour;

With half thy charms be flatter'd to the tomb,
And bear, with half thy fenfe, her tranfient bloom;
Some other Bard, in ftrains outlasting mine,
May fing of charms that ne'er can equal thine!
Confide, like me, the fond-deluding figh

To fome frail verfe, which foon or late muft die!'

We will add one other extract, that, as we have had occafion to criticife the author's poetry, we may give him his revenge. The following paff ge is in The Year 1800.'

So fung the Mufe, regardless of her foes,

Anxious the traitor's bolom to expose
Bare to the flighted land; anxious to shoot

Her fearching arrow at Corruption's root;

When Caution-clad in B-tt-'s rev'rend form,

Her heart-strings throbbing at a monthly ftorm,
Appear'd half palfied-for the hour was come
When critics beat the literary drum,

And wits imprefs'd, in regular array,
Before their generals widen into day.

Fearless I view'd the field, where many a name,
Damp'd in its infant ftruggle up to fame,"

Extinguish'd

Extinguish'd lay; where Dulnefs in her prime,
Reign'd o'er the wide-extended regions of-a rhyme!
Wondering I gaz'd, for wond'rous was the plan,
And with a fmile beheld the tricks of man;
Saw Nature vanquish'd by the worst deceit,
And proftrate Genius, bound at Folly's feet;
While gilded Fashion's mercenary train,

O'er the wide realm of letters held their reign;
In ev'ry province would at once prefide,

And wav'd the rod of infolence and pride!'

ART. XI. An Essay on Medals: or, an Introduction to the Knowledge of ancient and modern Coins and Medals; especially those of Greece, Rome, and Britain. By John Pinkerton. A new Edition, corrected, greatly enlarged, and illuftrated with Plates. 8vo. 2 Vols. Ios. 6d. Boards. Edwards, &c. 1789.

F the firft edition of this work, which was not fanctioned by the name of the author, we gave an account in Vol. lxxi. of our Review, p. 201. At that time, we pointed out what appeared to us reprehenfible in it; and into which the precipitancy of the author, rather than his inability for the talk, feems to have hurried him. In the edition now before us, thefe errors are, for the most part, entirely removed. The enlargement of the work, from one volume to two, is a circumftance that will immediately ftrike the reader; but the improvements are not lefs confiderable.

Befides many fmaller infertions, through the whole, a full acCount is now given] of the Greek and Roman money, illuftrated by perpetual reference to the original authors, and to the coins themselves. Several errors of theoretic writers on this fubject have been corrected by practical illuftration from the coins,-the fureft evidence.

The feveral claffes of Greek and Roman medals, as divided into gold; filver; and firft, fecond, and third brass; are more fully fpecified by examples and obfervations on remarkable coins, than has hitherto been attempted in a work of this nature.

A general account is given of the coinage of every modern kingdom in Europe; nay, of thofe in Afia, Africa, and America; but thefe laft are restricted to brief hints.

In the appendix, an important addition [is made] in the eftimates of the rarity of the Greek coins of cities and of kings.

Two of our first medallifts, and a third gentleman very confiderably fkilled in the fubject, have kindly condefcended to go through every page of the first edition with the author, and to point out every error they could obferve.'

When the reader is told, that Dr. Combe and Mr. Southgate were among the number that affifted on this occafion, he will not fuppofe, either that little has been done, or that much can remain unaccomplished toward perfecting a work of this

nature.

Six plates are added; five of them, of coins, copied, by permiffion, from Dr. Hunter's cabinet; the other, containing the Jetters and abbreviations occurring on Anglo-Saxon coins, from Hickes's Thefaurus.

Such are the enlargements and improvements of the edition now prefented to the public. Were we inclined to find fault, we should fay, that a few quaintneffes of expreffion and typography ftill remein*. The printing, in particular, of the pronoun I, on all occafions, with a little letter (i), feems to be a kind of affectation much beneath the learning or the good fenfe of the writer. The note in page 189, of the 2d vol. against the dealers in coins, appears to us of greater moment, as it concerns both the juftice and liberality of the author. On this account, we wish it had been expunged: however, neither the one nor the other affect the general merit of the work. On the whole, therefore, we recommend the prefent edition as a valuable performance; and more likely to lead the reader to the knowlege of that very amufing, and not unufeful fcience, the ftudy of medals, than any book hitherto published in the English Janguage.

ART. XII. England delineated; or, a geographical Defcription of every County in England and Wales: with a concife Account of its most important Products, natural and artificial. For the Ufe of young Perfons. Clown 8vo. pp. 416. 4s. 6d. Boards. Johnfon. 1788.

A

Sit is a reproach to this country, that, after all our improvements, we are ftill without an accurate map of Great Britain, it is no lefs to its difcredit, that we have no correct and comprehenfive account of the prefent ftate of these kingdoms. There are few plans which would be more worthy of public attention and encouragement, than that of affociating feveral perfons, properly qualified for their refpective departments, to make a tour through the fland, in order to collect and report the prefent ftate of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and local caftoms and manners; to observe uncommon facts in natural hiftory; and to glean up whatever antiquarian diligence has left unnoticed. Till fuch a defign be undertaken, it is an object of fome confequence, to provide, from fources already known, or eafily accettible, fuch defcriptions of this country as may be free from the grofs errors and foults which have difgraced the tours through England, and books of

*We will take the liberty, however, of pointing out one error to the writer, which is, in, or xidato, page 79 of the Effay, does not fignify a wolf, but a fox. See Hefychius, and all the Lexicons.

English

English geography, that have been published, from the days of Camden to this time.

This is the task which, on a fmall fcale, and in a general view, is here executed by Dr. Aikin, in a manner not unworthy of the idea which the public has long fince formed of his judgment and tafte, The author's own account of his plan

is this:

The leading idea purfued in this work was, to sketch out such a general view of each county with refpect to its geography, products natural and artificial, commerce, towns, and other principal objects, as might impress upon the mind a diftinct notion of its difcriminating character and relative confequence. In doing this, the greatest difficulty, next to that of collecting proper materials, was to keep a due medium between the meagre uninterefting manner of a catalogue, and fuch a minutenefs of detail as would have amplified the work beyond its propofed limits, and would, if not equally diffufed through the feveral parts, have rendered the whole difproportionate. How far this point has been attained, the reader muft determine; but few can form an adequate judgment of the difficulty of fuch a task, without actual experience in attempting it.

The geographical defcriptions were purpofely made fomewhat diffufe, that they might ferve as exercifes in that very useful branch of ftudy; and therefore ought to be read with a good map in hand.

The ftate of cultivation, trade, and manufactures, in this kingdom, has undergone fo many changes, even within a fhort period, that it was not poffible to derive from books alone fuch information as might be depended upon. Therefore, befides confulting fome of the most modern tours through particular districts, and hiftories of particular towns and counties, I thought it neceffary to apply for written information to perfons refiding in various parts of the country; and, in confequence, I have been favoured with a number of communications, especially relative to the feveral branches of commerce and manufacture, from the moft refpectable authorities, which, I flatter myself, have enabled me to give more authentic, though concife, accounts of a variety of important objects, than have hitherto appeared in print. I cannot, however, but lament that my opportunities for obtaining this beft kind of information have not been every where alike.

Antiquities I have almost entirely paffed over. The neceffary details on this fubject could not poffibly be brought within the prefcribed limits of this work; and the publications already extant have given much more copious and genuine information on this head than on the prefent circumftances of things.

For reasons fomewhat fimilar, I have scarcely given any notices concerning family hiftory, noblemen's and gentlemen's feats, pleafure grounds, profpects, and the like.

⚫ Wherever a proper occafion offered, I have been defirous of introducing biftorical matter of importance, as connected with fome

We have not yet feen the new edition of Camden's Britannia, by Mr. Gough.

particular

particular place; in order that, by fuch an affociation, the events might be forcibly impreffed upon the memory of a young reader. I have, however, taken fuch facts rather from the later than the earlier periods of our history, as being better authenticated, and of greater confequence to us at prefent.'

As a fpecimen of this ufeful and pleafing work, we fhall felect the author's account of Warwickshire.

This county, of an irregular oval figure, terminating in a point at the north and fouth, is bordered upon almost equally by fix counties, viz. Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire, on the weftern fide from north to fouth; and Leicestershire, Northamptonfhire, and Oxfordshire, on the eastern fide in the fame order. Its length, from the northern to the fouthern extremity, is almost fifty miles; its breadth, across the middle, thirty-two. In fituation it is the most central in the kingdom.

The river Avon, croffing Warwickshire in a very meandering courfe from the east to the fouth-weft, divides it into two portions; of which the northern, and largeft, was anciently almost an entire foreft; while the fouthern was a champaign and cultivated country.

The woodland divifion, though now, for the most part, cleared and cultivated, fill retains fomewhat of its wild character, being interfperfed with wide heaths and moors, and fprinkled with woods. The northern part has a gravelly foil; but this changes to clay on advancing towards the middle. The principal ftream in the north of this county is the Tame, which, coming out of Staffordshire, makes a fweep across a corner of Warwickshire; and, after receiving feveral of its rivulets, and, among the reft, the Ankor at Tamworth, returns at that town into Staffordshire. Much cheese of a good kind is made in this northern part of the county; and it contains coal and limestone.

The fouthern portion, formerly called the Feldon, is a tract of great fertility, and very productive of corn. Its chief river is the Leam, which joins the Avon near Warwick. Dunfmore heath, be: tween these two rivers, now moftly enclofed, is the fcene of fome of the fabulous ftories related of the famous Guy Earl of Warwick.

On the borders of Oxfordshire is a low ridge called the Edgebills. Here was fought, in 1642, the first pitched battle between the forces of Charles I. and the Parliament, the event of which was indecifive, each party claiming the victory. Beneath this ridge lies the fruitful vale of Red-horse, extending up into Warwickshire. On the Northampton thire border are fome fheep paftures of excellent quality.

Warwick, the capital of the county, is an ancient and neat town, fituated upon a rocky eminence above the Avon, and crowned with a fine caftle of the Earls of Warwick, ftill in a habitable state. It is not a place of trade.

The city of Coventry, a joint bishop's fee with Litchfield, is a large and populous place, frequently mentioned in English hiftory.. It had very early a great trade in various articles of manufacture; as cloths, ftuffs, thread, &c. At prefent, the principal branch is that of filk ribbons, which employs a number of hands. The goods are fent to London by waggons. Some gauzes are, befides, made

here,