"Fergufon. Yes, 'tis time to put a stop to the homicidal plots of that deftroyer of the human race.

"A Confpirator. Philofophy has already devoted him to the execration of the people.

"Gordon. You have all heard the thundering eloquence of FoxEnglish Patriots, he calls on you to affert your rights!

Ferguson. We fhall know how to defend them.

Gordon. His voice invokes liberty.

"Ferguson We will obtain it at the expenfe of our lives.

"Gordon. But let us not waste our time in idle words, but think of executing our plan.-You are all refolved to favour the descent of the French, to burit your chains, and give liberty to your degraded country?

"The Confpirators. Yes! yes! "Ferguson. We fwear it.

« Gordon. Our pledges of victory are Fox and his friends, our courage and Buonaparte. The genius of liberty watches over the people, and will foon crufh their tyrants. [He reads a paper] In two hours the defcent will be made. The regiment in garrifon is com. manded by the brave Houffey-on him we may rely;-but we have every thing to dread from the Commander of the Fort; he is fold to Pitt and his infamous agents. We muft anticipate him, and ftrike the first blow.

"Ferguson. That is my opinion. Is it yours? "Confpirators. Yes! yes!

Gordon. At the very moment when we shall make our attack at Dover, the confpiracy will break out in the heart of London. Let the Cabinet of St. James's tremble ;-Fox is quite ready. His pow erful hand has made Scotland and Ireland rife-and while the fea is covered with a foreft of mafts, Republican phalanxes will come forth as out of the bowels of the earth, to exterminate at once the oppreffors of my country-Friends, this day will decide our fate."

In the last scene the author gives a gentle hint to the merchants of Paris, which was very seasonable at a time, when the Directory were raifing a loan upon England!

"Alphonfe. How happy are my brave comrades! they followed you. They fay, General, that all the people in France wished to nbark in the expedition; and that the trading part of Paris, not be ing able to partake of its glory, all the merchants haftened to contribute to its fuccefs, by offering their treasures to the Republic.

"The French General. In that generous act I recognize my nation.-Englishmen! now is your time to deftroy the British govern. ment, which has caufed all your misfortunes, defolated your neigh bours, and fet Europe on fire. It is time that the fate of the people fhould no longer depend on the caprice of an individual," &c.

The army fets off on a quick march (au pas redoublé} for the head quarters at Canterbury, and the curtain drops.-We

have no doubt that this piece afforded great amufement to the badauds of Paris; and the few months which have elapfed fince its first appearance, have fufficed to demonftrate that the author's skill, as a prophet, is equal to his abilities as a dramatist.

ART. XIII. Charles de Rofenfeld; ou l'Aveugle inconfolable d'avoir ceffe de l'etre. i. e. Charles de Rofenfeld; or the Blind Man inconfolable for having recovered his Sight. A Novel, tranflated from the German. 3 vol. 12mo. Paris. Maradan, 1799.

LTHOUGH we have not been accustomed to bestow much time on the critical examination of that department of literature in which novels are comprised, yet we have had occasion to fhew, that this defcription of writing is frequently employed as a vehicle, either for principles fubverfive of every moral and religious fentiment, or for the most execrable nonsense that ever difgufted the ear of judgement. We do not mean to affert, that this is in general the case; but if 'fuch principles, or inconfiftency, be detected in one folitary instance, the fcrupulous inveftigation of the moral Reviewer is unquestionably required in every work of a fimilar nature; and he cannot conceive his time ill bestowed, if, after the perufal of many volumes, he fhould difcover one of an immoral or licentious tendency; for, by holding it up to public contempt, he will prevent, in a certain degree, the diffemination of fuch principles among the rifing generation, by the indirect means of contemptible romances.

With refpect to the novel before us, we were induced to -peruse it, principally from its fingular title. Its general contents, however, are of that nature which neither excites admiration nor contempt.-The principal outlines of the ftory are as follows:

A young man, the fon of a German officer, retired on a penfion, having been patronized at an early age by a nobleman, who gives him a very liberal education, and whom the youth accompanies on his travels over the greatest part of Europe, having returned on a vifit to his family (being then about the age of fourteen,) fuddenly, and without any known caufe, becomes totally blind. Being a youth of great fenfibility he is foon reconciled to his fituation, and endeavours to confole his parents, who are much afflicted on the occafion. By application to the ufual mode of inftruction adapted to blind people, and aided by an exquifite fenfe of feeling and hearing, he foon becomes enabled to diftinguifh the approach

of

of objects, and to apply his remaining fenfes to useful pur pofes. In a few years after his accident, a rich officer, a friend of his father, dies, appointing the latter fole guardian to an only daughter, at that time very young, and empowering him to difpofe of the young lady, and her immenfe fortune, as he fhall think proper. The education of the lady is principally confided to Charles, (the blind-man) and, as may be fuppofed, a reciprocal attachment is the confequence. In fhort, after a detection of thefe fentiments by the parents, in the ufual way, the young couple are foon united. For feveral years nothing of importance occurs in this family, except the birth of a daughter fhortly after the nuptials alluded to. An English prostitute, however, who has been kept by feveral noblemen, having fecured herself an annuity, comes to refide in the neighbourhood, and having fixed her attention on Charles, endeavours to draw his affections from his wife; but he being a virtuous character, fimilar, we fuppofe, to Jofeph Andrews, refifts all her artifices; on which, in a fit of defperation, the orders her two English fervants to way-lay him, and force him to her refidence, where the endeavours in vain to bring him to compliance: but he makes his escape, by bribing one of her fervants, and returns to his family.

We pafs over fuch parts of this hiftory as are not of an interefting nature, and proceed to the caufes which gave rife to its fingular title: The nobleman mentioned as the only patron of Charles, having treated the youth in a very difgraceful manner at the time he met with his accident, and having fince reduced his own income by every kind of diffipation, becomes ftruck with remorse; and, to make fome amends for his former behaviour, procures a celebrated oculift, and, waiting on M. de Rofenfeld, after many apologies, folicits him to undergo an operation for the recovery of his fight. The blind man is much averfe to the experiment, and contrafts his present happy fituation with the disappointments he may meet with after its fuccefs. However, on the continued perfuafions of his family, he agrees to fubmit to the operation; which is effectually performed. His relations are then introduced to him fingly; and, on the appearance of his wife, whom he had always fuppofed to be a perfect beauty, but who is, in reality, only an ordinary perfon, he is ftruck with an involuntary motion of furprife, the effect of which on the lady, who is confcious of her own perfonal inferiority, is fo great, that she falls fenfelefs on the floor; and, though the foon becomes reconciled to her husband, yet the never recovers the effect produced by his involuntary emotion."

Polly

Polly Patget, the perfon before alluded to, having, after Charles had recovered his fight, found means to fecrete herself in his houfe, and being refolved on the gratification of her paffion, enters his bedchamber at night, and is mistaken by Charles for his wife, from whom he had been feparated during feveral weeks by her own defire. The refult of this miftake is a child, which is fent by Polly to Charles, at the time his wife is pregnant. The mifcarriage of Adelaide is the confequence of her furprife; which, fhortly after, causes her death. Charles now becomes inconfolable, attributing the whole of his misfortunes to the recovery of his fight; and having, in a fit of defperation, procured a certain chemical liquid, applies it to his eyes, and again becomes blind; when the hiftory concludes.

There is a fort of counterplot, which confifts of the education and marriage of the daughter of Charles, with the fon of a friend of the family; but this forms no very important part of the story, in which feveral other characters are occa→ fionally introduced.

This novel is contained in a feries of letters. The language is, in general, eafy and correct; but we have not obferved any paffages remarkable for energy of ftyle, or dignity of fentiment. It is, however, no where tinged with the colours of republican fanaticism; and the following paffage will fhew, that the French tranflator has taken no pains to fupprefs fuch fentiments as are of an oppolite tendency:

"Syftem!" interrupted Charles, (in answer to a nobleman who obferved, that a learned man was inclined to difclofe a fyftem to him which he had begun to approve,) "no, my Lord, it contains too much hypothefis. Morality has more folid bafes; it is founded on evidence, certainty, conviction, a clear confcience, and, above all, faith. Philofophers contrive and arrange fyftems; they dream, and form fuppofitions; but the virtuous man perceives, knows, and is willing; and his principles are not more hypothefes than his Chriftianity is a religious opinion. There would be an end of all morality, if we were reduced to have nothing but tems and opinions.".

We cannot, however, coincide with the morality of this novel; as a licentious proftitute certainly forms a fecond rate character throughout the piece.

PP

APPENDIX, VOL. III.

AMERICA.

AMERICA.

HE works which this quarter of the globe furnishes for

tant. This we cannot but lament; for, from the interest we feel in the welfare of the people, of thefe rifing states, we fincerely wish that they might become refpectable by being a literary people, as well as thriving in commerce. That this either has been, or is yet, their character, their warmest admirers will hardly contend. To what general or particular caufe or caufes we are to afcribe their differing, in this refpect, fo effentially from the people from whom it is to their honour that they are defcenedd, we are not now called on to enquire: but done away, and buried, we truft, for ever, as the animofities between us, which originated in their feparation, now are, and firmly attached to each other as we could wish the two countries once more to be, in affection as well as in intereft, we would fain flatter ourselves, that, aiming as they commendably do, to rival us, by taking their rank among the moft eminent naval and commercial nations, they will allo make hafte to overtake us, if it be poffible, in being no less eminent for their literature. In fuch a rivalship, and in fuch a conteft, there can be no clashing of interefts, nor, of course, any cause either for jealoufy, or enmity; for, though we all run, we may all obtain the prize. And difcouraging, as it is not to be denied prefent profpects are, we do not yet defpair of living to fee the day, when we fhall have the pleasure of announcing to the public literary productions from America, of fuch importance and merit, as may prove that, in no reIpect, are they the degenerate defcendants of Britons.

Art. XIV. A Sermon preached at Charles Town, Nov. 29, 1798, on the Anniversary Thankfgiving in Maffachufets: with an Appendix, defigned to illujirate fome Parts of the Difcourfe; exhibiting Proofs of the early Exiflence, Progrefs, and deleterious Effects of French Intrigue and Influence in the United States. By Jedediah Morfe, D. D. Paftor of the Church in Charles Town. Published by request. Second Edition. Printed by Samuel Hall, No. 53, Cornhill, Bolton, 1799.

THIS

THIS is a refpectable Difcourfe, on Exodus xviii. p. 8, 9. and though evidently made, and calculated for, the meridian of New England, yet, as good fenfe, and fair and

good