She forc'd'her way, and feiz'd the struggling boy, The more he ftruggl'd, ftill the more the prefs'd, } All this description is borrowed from Ovid; but our Author has over-looked fome of the most striking beauties in that pleafing poet. What follows is, however, an improvement on the original: So pray'd the nymph, neglecting in her prayer Which fpring from union, and confent of hearts, For the prayer being accepted, a monftrous union enfued, The female o'er the motley union reigns; A fix'd averfion ftill the male retains, And prays no iffue from their loins might come; But his address was not granted, for in due time, From thence (a) by Gods and Mortals Hymen nam'd, Giv'n by the Goddess at his natal hour, Sign of his fource, and emblem of his power. For Jove and the Fates had decreed, that the fon fhould avenge the fire, by binding the youths and virgins in chains which nothing but death could loofe. But no fooner was Hymen known on earth, than the Fair, continues the Bard, either mifled by pride, or affecting no (b) In Ovid. when Hermaphroditus faw himself transformed into a monster, neither woman nor boy, he prayed to his parents, Sed jam non voce virili Quifquis in hos fontes vir venerit; exeat inde Accordingly the antients believed that this river had a wonderful effect in enervating a man. (e) Is there not fome impropriety in calling a double-fex'd monster a Nymph? (d) We fee no connection between Hymen and this fuppofed manper of his birth. Hymen is derived from the Greek word sw, celebro. The antients more jully fuppofed Hymen to be the fon of Apollo and of Urania. velty, deferted the God of Love, and placing Hymen in his ftead, paid their adorations to him only. And tho' the favour'd youth to love invite, Nor are the Fair, fays this perfpicacious Bard, who fall in love, in a better fituation, for the hard-hearted swains will not fatisfy their defires, Till Hymen bids the bliss, and binds the chain. Which if they refused, the confequence was, folitary virginity to the maids, or promifcuous love to the males. Or if either fex yielded to marriage, as that God was wholly regardless of thofe tender fympathies which love requires, He join'd as chance, or wayward fancy guides, Indifferent bridegrooms, or reluctant brides. But as Hymen was endowed with a brazen front, he tells his votaries, that if they loved before, His chains would only bind their love the more, At the fight of this change on earth, Cupid, with indignation, followed Aftrea to Heaven; Venus, however, remained below, and Enchants the shepherd ftill, and charms the fawains. But referve and modefty, the armour of beauty, being gone, Far from her wonted haunts her courfe the bore, Of all faults in writing, there are few lefs pardonable than the giving the fame idea in different words. Our Author has many pleonasms. (f) Had promifcuous love been the parent of the lues veneria, the antients had not been unacquainted with that direful malady. The truth is, the p-is an endemic difeafe, in the new world, and came to Europe by infection. Thefc The two laft lines are the best in the poem; but the picture that follows of the Dæmon, is not only difguftful beyond fufferance, but false in some of its colourings. Nor are we much more entertained with the description of those ills which the p- produces in the world. And if Longinus (g) blames Hefiod for the odiousness of the following image, in that poet's personification of darkness, (axλus) Της εκ μεν (ινων μυξαι ρεον (4). what would that delicate critic have faid of this part of the prefent poem? Fracaftorius was aware of this objection, and has with great dexterity avoided it, tho' his fubject (i) moft naturally led him into an enumeration of the symptoms of the venereal disease. His portraiture of a youth languishing under the effects of this diforder, excites our pity for the melancholy fufferer, but raises not our averfion to the cause (k). These things discover the genuine poet. But to proceed. The afflicted immediately apply for affiftance, to the profeffors of phyfic, who addreffed Apollo and Efculapius to teach them the method of cure: but the Gods of medicine could afford them no aid: the diforder baffled their fcience. Cyllenus laughed, and alarmed Apollo by calling him a wretched quack, and his art a jest. He fears, Left, as th' harmonius lyre Cyllenius ftole, And that perfuafive art which wins the foul, So he should steal his boatted healing skill, And gain the privilege () by art to kill. Nor were his apprehenfions groundless. For all the Doctors own, The Dæmon yields to Mercury alone. Parturiunt montes! What a wretched pun is this! Nor is it true; for tho' Mercury is the grand antifiphylic, yet are there other remedies more effectual than even that mineral, in fome of the symptoms of this disease. At this place, however, the allegory, fuch as it is, fhould have ended; but the Author drags on through twenty-eight lines more, at the end of which we have an impertinent conclufion to a moft impertinent poem: the worthy moral of which is, If you live fingle, the p- is your deftiny; and, if you marry, there is an end of all felicity! However, as the Author is not entirely deftitute of poetical merit, we hope, the next time he publishes, that he will be more attentive to his plan, as well as more careful of his numbers. (g) Sect. 7. (b) The fhield of Hercules, 1. 267. (i) Syphilis. (4) Sub. finem, lib. prim. () Do thefe two lines agree? What an impotent fatyr is this, upon phyfic! 1. MR. For AUGUST, 1756. MISCELLANEOUS. TR. Archibald Bower's Affidavit in Answer to the falle Accufations brought against him by Papifts. To which are added, 1. A circumftantial Narrative of what hath fince paffed between Mr. Bower and Sir Henry Bedingfield in relation thereto. 2. Copies of the faid pretended Letters fent him by Sir Henry Bedingfield, and of a fubfequent Affidavit made by Mr. Bower of their not being wrote by him, or with his Privity. With fome fhort Obfervations on those pretended Letters, proving them to be spurious. 8vo. Is. Sandby: In this finall pamphlet we have, firft, Mr. Bower's Affidavit fworn in the court of King's-Bench, May 31, 1756, before copies of the Letters mentioned in our laft Number were delivered to him by Sir Henry Bedingfield. In this Affidavit Mr. Bower maketh oath, That he came into England in or about the month of June or July, 1726, and that for upwards of twenty-nine years Jaft paft, he hath not been prefent at any religious worship or ceremony of the Romish religion; or practifed, repeated, or used any of the ceremonies, offices, prayers, or devotions, peculiar to that church, either in public or private; or been in any manner, or by any act whatsoever, reconciled to, or expreffed his approbation of, the Popish religion, or any of the errors or tenets of that church condemned by Proteftants; but doth now believe, and for upwards of twenty-nine years last past hath believed and esteemed, the principal tenets maintained by the church of Rome, in oppofition to the Proteftants, to be impious and heretical;-that he hath for upwards of twenty-four years laft joined with the church of England as by law eftablished in this kingdom, and, during that time, used his utmost endeavours to convince feveral of his relations, and others, who were educated in the Romish religion, of the errors thereof;-and that the contents of the Letters are entirely falfe, fcandalous, and groundlefs, and a wicked contrivance and forgery of the Papifts to blacken his good name, and hurt the Proteftant cause, &c. What weight Mr. Bower's Affidavit may have with the public, we know not. As to the Letters being a contrivance of the Papifts to blacken his name, there feems to be little, if any, foundation for fuch a pretence. It is well known to those who have been at pains to enquire into this matter, that the Papists have endeavoured to throw obftructions in the way of fuch enquiry, inftead of being defirous to promote it. And for this conduct of theirs, a very obvious reafon may be affigned. They are very fenfible that a full and impartial enquiry into this affair, would bring to light a great many circumftances, which it is their un doubted intereft to conceal. But we must not enlarge. The The Affidavit is followed by a circumftantial Narrative, as Mr. Bower calls it, of what has fince paffed between him and Sir Henry Bedingfield. This narrative contains only a few short Epiftles concerning the Letters, copies of which were delivered to Mr. Bower, and are here printed. We have next a fecond Affidavit, fworn June 30, 1756, before Mr. Fielding, wherein Mr. Bower maketh oath, That the Letters were not written by him, or with his privity. Then follow fome fhort obfervations on the Letters, and the conduct of the Perfons who have published them. Thefe obfervations are contained in four pages; no mention is made of the money-transaction; and nothing, indeed, is advanced that can give any fatisfaction to an unbiaffed Reader. Mr. Bower has annexed a Poftfcript to his piece, which it may not be improper to lay before our Readers; it is as follows. • Since the foregoing fheets were fent to the prefs, and their intended publication advertised in the News-papers of Saturday the 26th of June, a pamphlet hath been advertised, and this day published, to prove the authenticity of the Six Letters in queftion; which is pretended to have been written by a Proteftant, but with all the virulence and fcurrility to be expected from exafperated and bigotted Papifts, by whom the principal "materials therein published, appear to have been furnished, and ⚫ for the defence of whofe caufe alone they are plainly calculated. The public may be affured, that Mr. Bower will, at a proper time, give an answer to the false facts, and false reasoning of this anonymous Proteftant-Papift. As to his fcurrility and invectives, Mr. Bower, agreeable to what he declared in his Preface, will neither anfwer nor refent them: at the fame time, he takes this opportunity to declare, that neither this, or any other attempt of his enemies fhall fo far fucceed, as to ⚫ prevent him from endeavouring to complete The Hiftory of the Popes with all poffible expedition.' It may be obferved here, that Mr. Bower, on a former occafion, broke his word to the public, in relation to the account he promised to give of the motives which induced him to change his religion, and of his escape from the Inquifition of Macerata Upon Mr. Baron's publishing an account of this matter, in November, 1750, Mr. Bower, in a public advertisement, declared, that Mr. Baron's account was, almoft, in every particular, abfolutely falfe; and, in another advertisement, foon after, that it was very imperfect, (two affertions not very confiftent) and falle in many circumstances; promifing, at the fame time, that as foon as he had acquitted himself of his engagement to his fubfcribers, by finishing the fecond volume of his Hiftory, he would himself publish a true account of the matter. Now this fecond volume has been compleated about five years; the third has long ago been laid before the public, and the fourth, we are affured, is in great forwardness, in the prefs; but Mr. Bower's promised account has not as yet made its appearance. Whether |