The other poems have likewise considerable merit; but we have not room for farther extracts. We therefore take our leave of Mrs. Knipe, heartily recommending her unlettered Mufe, as fhe is pleased to call her, to the care and attention of the Public.

ART. VII. Weft-Indian Eclogues. 4to. 2s. Lowndes. 1787.

TH

HESE Eclogues defcribe, in not unpleafing numbers, the fituation of the unfortunate Africans: who, torn from their native country, are doomed to pafs their lives in flavery, and (as our Author would give us to understand) to suffer under the lafh of the moft cruel and tyrannical of human beings, the planters in the Weftern Ifles,-or [which makes little difference] their overfeers, and Negroe-drivers.

Much has been lately written on the subject of plantation flavery-but that writers have greatly exaggerated in their account of the cruelties exercised towards the Negroes, we have every reason to believe. The African is undoubtedly ruled with a rod of iron, but then it should be remembered that (as many contend) he is not to be worked on by affection, but held in obedience by fear; and that the owner is driven to that mode of rule by a kind of political neceffity; by the confideration that it is in

fuch

fuch a conduct, in fuch a government, that the fafety of himself and family depends. If, therefore, the punishment of the refractory flave is occafionally fevere, it is not inflicted in wantonness, but for the purpose of keeping his brethren in awe, and for deterring them from mutiny and revolt, to which they are not a little prone. With respect to the traffic, the trading in this unhappy people, it is another matter.-How far it may be juftifiable we do not take on us to say.

The following defcription of mid-day within the Tropics, will ferve as a specimen of our Author's poetry:

NOON.

Now downward darts the fierce meridian ray,
And Nature pants amidst the blaze of day;
Though pitying Ocean, to her fuff'rings kind,
Fans her warm bofom with his western wind.
Now the huge mountains charm the roving eye,
Their verdant fummits towering to the sky.
The cultur'd hill, the vale, the spreading plain,
The diftant fea-worn beach, the ruffled main,
The anchoring bark o'erfpread with awnings white;
All now appear in robes of dazzling light.
The feather'd race their gaudy plumes difplay,
And sport and flutter 'midit the glowing day;
The long-bill'd humming tribe now hover round,
And fhew their tints where bloffoms most abound.
With eyes intent on earth, well pois'd in air,
Now ufeful Vultures feek their fated fare.
Where curls the wave, the Pelican on high,
With beak enormous and with piercing eye,
If chance he fees a watry tenant rife,

Now headlong drops and bears away his prize.
Now variegated flies their pinions spread,
And fpeckled lizards ftart at every tread-
Now oxen to the shore in pond'rous wains,
Drag the rich produce of the juicy canes :
Now wearied Negroes to their fheds repair,
Or fpreading tree, to take their fcanty fare.
'Twas now beneath a Tamarind's cool retreat
Two fable friends, &c.'-

The ingenious Author affures us, in his prefixed advertisement, that he refided feveral years in the Weft Indies, and that the fcenes he has delineated fell under his actual obfervation.-He has added Notes, to illuftrate the paffages where the names of peculiar things are introduced, as fubjects of Natural Hiftory, &c. &c.

ART.

ני

ART. VIII. Monafticon Hibernicum; or an Hiftory of the Abbies, Priories, and other religious Houfes in Ireland. Interfperfed with Memoirs of their feveral Founders and Benefactors, &c. Illuftrated. with Plates. By Mervyn Archdall, A. M. Member of the Royal Irish Academy. 4to. 11. 5s. Boards. Robinfons. 1786.

OUR

UR learned Readers are fufficiently acquainted with the Monafticon Anglicanum of the celebrated Dugdale. This being a fimilar work, will, no doubt, be very acceptable to the lovers of ecclefiaftical antiquities.

Ireland feems to have been almoft totally over-run by Monks. The poffeffions which, by the accounts here given, the several religious orders held in that kingdom, feem nearly equal to half of the island. How the monaftic ftate came to gain fo many acquifitions in the country, is a matter of very curious investigation; and we could have wifhed fome able hiftorian of our fifter-nation had favoured the Public with the caufes of fo uncommon an afcendancy. If Saint Patrick, who first established the Monkish profeffion in Ireland, had been remarkable for his benevolence, or had the doctrine he preached been of temporal advantage to the receivers of it, we should not wonder to find many of the inhabitants eagerly and ftrenuously embracing the auftere life, which, it is generally believed, the Monaftic orders, in the earlier ages of Chriftianity, obferved. The living in affluence and ease (as the Monks, by every account we have received of them, certainly did) was indeed a fufficient motive for indolent and defigning men, to deceive the ignorant and infatuated wretch on his death-bed, with a promife, nay an affurance, of happiness in another world, in lieu of his earthly wealth: and this was, probably, the most fertile fource of the immenfe revenues which this useless and underferving body of men poffeffed. Their feveral orders, by the apparent uncommon rectitude of life and manners in their firft profeffors, gained univerfal efteem among the ignorant and unfufpecting multitude, and they found no great difficulty in obtaining every thing that their unbounded avarice, ambition, or luxury, could fuggeft; of this the Knights Templats bave alfo furnished a remarkable inftance. As we do not recollect to have seen, in fo narrow a compass, so just an account of this order, in any other publication, or of the vaft riches they had acquired, we fhall lay before our Readers what Mr. Archdall fays of their diffolution:

1312. This year, on the morrow of Lucia the Virgin, the Moon appeared varioufy coloured; on which day it was finally determined that the order of the Knights Templars thould be totally abolished.

* What concern the Moon had in the event does not appear.

Nothing

Nothing could fo well fuit the taste of an age tinctured with all the elevating fpirit of romance, and heightened by every fpecies of religious enthusiasm, as the inftitution of the order of the Knights Templars, about the year 1118. The Chriftian world was fo highly pleafed with the unexampled goodness of their firft profeffors, that in the space of 126 years, from the first inflitution of the Knights Templars, they were poffeffed of a no lefs number than 9000 manors in Christendom; and at the time when it was determined to put a period to their existence, they were in actual poffeffion of 16,000 lordfhips. A prince fo jealous of his prerogative, and naturally fo avaricious, as Philip King of France, beheld the rifing greatness of thefe Knights with an envious and malignant eye. The blackness of the accufation brought against them, at firft awakened the attention of the Public, and then raised their deteftation. Their luxury, their intemperance, and impurity, cannot, even at this diftance of time, be denied, but thofe crimes were indeed too general in that age to bear fo peculiarly hard against the unfortunate Templars. The people, however, were ftruck with horror at an accumulated charge now brought against thefe Knights; they were accused of forcery, unnatural lufts, and idolatry; a charge fo grofs as almoft to furpafs human belief. It was eafy for Philip to carry this iniquitous tranfaction through his courts; and upon proof, the eftates, houses, and effects of the order were feized and fequeftered into the hands of commiffioners, and their perfons were fecured in caftles, prifons, &c. The amazing acceffion of property which was likely by this perfecution to accrue to the crown of France, foon induced our King, Edward II. to follow the example of Philip. As these two princes were alike favoured by the Pope, the charge brought against the Templars in France was held in England as confeffed, and it was publicly ordained by the King and his Council, that all of that order throughout his dominions should be seized. This command was carried into immediate execution.-The depofitions against the Templars were weakly fupported, yet they were condemned; but more indeed through blind compliance with the prevailing practice throughout the other parts of Europe, than any demerits being proved again ft their perfons*. Their lands and poffeffions of every kind were bestowed upon the Knights of St. John of Jerufalem by the Pope, which grant was however confirmed by the King, who at the fame time entered a protest of his rights against the affumed power of the Pope.'

The work before us contains many particulars, which will gratify the antiquary's curiofity; but the prefent proprietors of lands, formerly belonging to the monafteries here described, are the perfons to whom this publication will be most useful; and it is the more valuable on account of its being compiled from authentic official records, the truth of which cannot be called in question. As to the utility of the work, with refpect to the general hiftorian, little can be expected from it, fince it is chiefly confined to local circumftances; fome particulars, however, may be here met which are no where else to be found.

Arbitrary governments are never at a lofs for evidence to crimi nate the rich.

ART.

ART. IX. The Hiftory and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the
Univerfity of Oxford. By Antony Wood, M. A. Now first pub-
lished in English, from the original Manuscript in the Bodleian
Library; with a Continuation to the prefent Time, by the Editor,
John Gutch, M. A. Chaplain of All Souls' College. 40. 11. 6s.
in Sheets. Oxford, printed; fold by Rivington in London. 1786.

MR

R. Wood's Hiftory and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, begun about the year 1656, was completed fome time about the year 1668. It confifted of two Parts; the firft being a general history of the Univerfity, from its inftitution to the year 1649; the fecond, a hiftory of the ancient and prefent Schools, Theatres, Lectureships, &c. together with a hiftory of the feveral Colleges and Halls, from their firft foundation, down to the year 1668. To the whole of this was fubjoined an Appendix, entitled, Fafli Oxonienfes, or a Commentary on the fupreme Magiftrates of the Universitie of Oxford, namely, of the Chancellours, Commiffaries, Prochancellours, or Vicechancellours, and Proctors: alfo of the High Stewards and Parliamentarie Burgeffes of the Univerfitie.'

For the compilation of this elaborate work, the Author, by means of Dr. Wallis, obtained leave to confult the University regifters, monuments, and writings. He was much delighted, fay his biographers, with thefe records, and took fo much pains in carrying on his work, that his conftitution and health were much impaired, and his acquaintance obferved a very material alteration in his perfon. After he had extracted from thefe writings every thing he thought useful for his great undertaking, he went to London, with letters of recommendation, from Dr. Thomas Barlow, then Provoft of Queen's College, to Sir William Dugdale; by whofe means he obtained leave to perufe fome manufcripts in the Cotton Library, and had free access to the records in the Tower.

With these advantages Mr. Wood could eafily furnish himself with authentic facts; yet the labour in collecting them must have been immenfe, and the judgment in felecting what would be useful, and in rejecting what was fuperfluous, must have required time and attention; fo that we cannot fufficiently admire his great affiduity in order to bring fo elaborate a performance to a On the 22d of October, conclufion, in fo fhort a time. the University of Oxford offered him the fum of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS for the copy of this work; he accepted it, and received the money on the 29th of March following. What fonishing LIBERALITY!! A London porter, even in thofe days, would have earned above five times the money,-in the fame number of years.

This purchafe was made for the purpose of tranflating the the work into Latin. The verfion was accordingly performed, under