few months pafs which do not bring one of them under our infpection. It is indeed a convenient method to writers of the inferior clafs, of emptying their common-place books, and throwing together all the farrago of public tranfactions, private characters, old and new stories, every thing, in fhort, which they can pick up, to afford a little temporary amufement to an idle reader. This is the utmost degree of merit which the best of them afpire to; and, fmall as it is, more than most of them ever arrive at. The flight performance before us is perhaps one of the best of its little fpecies, and may give half an hour's entertainment to a coffee-houfe critic, or a lounging traveller, as the style is tolerably eafy and correct, and fome of the materials are not unentertaining. From thefe we shall felect a short story, that may give our readers an idea of our author's manner, and which has fome humour in it.

A Rupee, the relater of thefe adventures, falls into the hands of a Fakir, or Indian prieft. These men travel in large troops, and, like fome of the monks in Catholic countries, extort charity by a kind of religious robbery. To deceive the vulgar, they inflict on themselves the moft fevere penances, and for thefe fufferings pretend that their Brama, or God, admits them to a knowlege of future events. Concerning a company of thefe, our Rupee tells the following tale.

In the midst of these pleasures, (fays the Rupee), two Fakirs arrived with the news that the illuftrious Hyder Alli had given a general invitation to their body, to dine with him on a certain day. The hope of gain prompted fome to attend, vanity not a few, and curiofity many. Among the reft, my mafter refolved to attend; he fewed me up in the lining of his ragged covering, and in company with about four hundred Fakirs, we fet out to be prefent at the feast given to our body by Hyder Alli.

Hyder at this time was engaged in feveral wars, in the courfe of which, he gave many proofs of great generalfhip and force

of mind.

• He could well counterfeit any character, which it was for his intereft to affume. The ill qualities of the human mind, which afford the best handle for governing mankind, he could ufe to much advantage.--War is conducted on different principles in the Eaft, from thofe by which it is regulated in Europe. If a general, who is dreaded by an enemy, can be carried off by any piece of treachery, it is looked upon as fair as any ftratagem in the field. -Hyder was well versed in business of this nature.--He was alfo fkilled in the art of negotiation, and could look with great fagacity into the events of futurity.

My mafter and his companions had heard much of this warriour, whofe fame fpread over all Indoftan. They were dazzled with the honour of an invitation from fo celebrated a man, and affenbled in hundreds from every quarter. To the number of twelve thousand the Fakirs fit down at table-Difhes fucceeded dishes, and dainty dainty; for this was a day, on which, by the

exprefs command of Hyder, they were to relax of their ordinary feverity. Good humour and felf importance fhewed themselves over all the tattered affembly, which to a distant fpectator, muft have appeared not unlike a London rag fair-The intoxication of honour and good cheer was univerfal, when Hyder makes his ap◄ pearance-The majesty of his countenance, in fpite of the fmile that then adorned it, ftruck terror into the congregation - Silence and dread were univerfal-The animating principle of a whole camp, which extended to the boundaries of our vilion, ftood before us. After looking up three times to heaven, in adoration of the great Brama, he thus broke filence.

Illuftrious fervants of the power whom we adore, I come to return you my thanks for the honour yon have done me in accepting my invitation. I entertain the highest veneration for the fanctity of your lives, and the feverity of your manners. You have fhewn yourselves worthy of that master you all worship, by defpifing all fenfual comforts. You have even gone farther as if you poffeffed a mind in a state of perfect feparation from body, you have continually inflicted yourselves the most excruciating tortures, and these you have borne without teftifying any fenfe of pain. You have rolled naked in the dirt, while the rude pebbles deprived you of the fmall fragments of fkin your other fufferings had left behind. Illuftrious fervants of Brama, who fee the chain of future events, Hyder Alli pities your fufferings.-Be not feen amongst men any more in the mean drefs in which you now appear. Lay afide thefe rags that ill befit the ministers of heaven. Drefs is a mark of diftinction; and you who hold the first rank amongst men, fhould not be diftinguished by filth. I have prepared cloaths that will defend you both from the cold and the heat, for well I know you have no money to purchase any for yourselves. My foldiers fhall fee the fervants of Brama immediately dreffed in them. Such is the council that Brama puts into the heart of Hyder Alli-Can I fay more?

After this fpeech, he immediately went out. The whole affembly fat in filent vexation; for every individual was fenfible, that his rags which feemed fo worthless, contained great treasures. But it would have been in vain to remonftrate. Hyder's foldiers perform with alacrity the charitable office of cloathing the naked, and took poffeffion of the rags, which were heavy with gold, under the pretence of burying them; for what could be fuppofed of value in the tattered coverings of poor men that practifed felf denial! The operations of war which Hyder carried on at this time against the British, began to be languid for want of money; he faw the evil, and took this method of providing against it. Thus I efcaped, with many thoufands of the fame fpecies, and found myfelf in the poffeffion of the great Hyder Alli.'

This story is well imagined, and not ill-told. It certainly fets Hyder Alli's fagacity in a favourable light, and marks him out

to

to us as what we have experienced him to be, a moft formidable
enemy. The part here attributed to him is, at least we may
obferve, more probable than that which our author has related of
him in the fixth chapter of thefe Adventures, where, in his hif-
sory of Mifs Melville, he has made him a rival of Scipio's in
the best part of his character. But for this adventure, and fome
others equally amufing, we must refer our readers to the book
itself, which we may venture to recommend to them as a better
entertainment than cards and dice, during the long evenings of
the Christmas holydays.

The Hiftory of John Juniper, Efq. alias Juniper Jack. 3 vols.
12mo. Ios 6d. Baldwin.

Juft before the publication of this work, it was whispered round,
that it contained the true hiftory of a no lefs refpectable perfon-
age than the celebrated John Wilkes, fhadowed out under the
character of Juniper Jack; a circumftance which naturally raised
the curiofity of the public, whofe fanguine expectations will be
miferably disappointed, when they difcover, as we have found by
a painful perufal, that, instead of exhibiting any entertaining
traits of that great phænomenon, the reader will meet with little
more than a series of uninterefting vulgar occurrences, and
an aukward affectation of humour. It is faid, notwithstanding,
in the title-page, to be written by the author of the Adventures
of a Guinea; a work we remember to have read with great plea-
fure, and which displayed indifputable marks of taste and genius.
-But, Oh! what a falling-off is here!

The Mafqued Weddings. 2 Vols. Small 8vo. 6s. Hookham.

Whether this novel was written in hafte, we know not; but
from the uninterrupted flow of the language, it must be read with
precipitation. To compenfate this inconvenience, however, it
abounds with vivacity, and cannot fail of affording entertainment.
The Female Monitor, or the Hiftory of Arabella and Lady Gay
8vo. 25. ftitched. Richardfon.

The title of this production might suggest the idea, that it.
poffeffes at least fome moral merit; but at the fame time that it
bears the marks of great affectation, it is far too frivolous to be
ufeful.

Lucinda; or the Self-devoted Daughter. Small 8vo. 35. Hookham,

An extravagant affemblage of terrible incidents, recited in bom-
baftic narrative.

INDEX.