No. 17. The launching of a fifhing boat. The scene of action is Brighthelmfton fhore; and though the figures, who are engaged in heaving the boat into the water, have much character about them, they have rather the appearance of veteran fmugglers than fhipwrights or fishermen. The old

feaman on the ftock of the anchor is a good object. The fpray of the fea is well defcribed; and the offing, diftant and bleak. Those who have cenfured this picture for being cold, appear to forget the fituation.

No. 25. Lowdore waterfall.-Thefe romantic fcenes, in the neighbourhood of Cumberland Lakes, have engaged the pencils of two of the greateft mafters of the age. Mr. Gainfborough, as well as Mr. Loutherbourg, has exercifed his genius in a contemplation of thofe views.The productions of the former, on this fubject, have been marked with a wildnefs, highly accordant to the spot. The picture under confideration is covered with a gloom, expreffive of the approach of evening. A peafant and his family are feated before a cottage, and a little boy, who appears in difgrace for misbehaviour, is the beft of the figures.

No. 63. A fea-port in the Levant. The time morning.-Some perfons of rank appear in the foreground. Bales of goods, pieces of ordnance, and other materials lie on the quay; the water is painted with a clearness, and a fky poffeffing correfpondent ferenity, combine to form an excellent little picture.

No. 78. A ftorm on Windermere in Weftmoreland.-To give every poffible fublimity to a fcene, the natural effect of which cannot be preferved on canvas; the artist has introduced a ftorm, lowering ky, and a boat in diftrefs; a green mift appears upon the face of every object, fave a lady, who is fainting in the boat: the light breaks with good effect upon her. This picture has merit, but greater contraft of colour is wanted to give it force.

No. 140. An engine to draw water out of a lead mine.-The view is near Mattock. There is much spirit in this picture.

No. 151. A ftormy evening on

Thirlmere, in Cumberland.-The remark which is made on the picture No. 78, holds good with this piece. To give that grandeur to the scene which is produced by its vaft extent, a ftorm is introduced. The red broken ground has force; and the cattle and dog are painted with spirit.

No. 161. A heath, with cattle and figures.-A pleafing effect. Some labourers are at work in a clay-pit; and the cattle are naturally difpofed near a watering-place.

No. 164. An inn near Conistone Lake.-A charming morning fcene. A water-bearer is at the lake. The waggon, team, and drivers before the inn, are well compofed.

No. 171. A flate quarry, in Cumberland. The action of the horses in the cart is natural. The figures are not in the artist's beft method; but, upon the whole, the light and fhadow is well preserved, and the coup d'œil in good harmony.

No. 177. View of Ulfwater.This is companion to No. 164. The feafon is evening. The sky is tranquil, yet rich; and the water clear.

Upon the whole, it may be remarked, that the works of Mr. Loutherbourg are better recommended on the fcore of genius, than thofe of any other amongst the prefent exhibitors.

Mr. NORTHCOTE.

formance is the boy; and the fecond beft, the monkey.

No. 172. The fruit girl.-This picture has merit certainly, great labour has been exerted in the appendages, and thereby the principal object is too much kept down. There is befide, a blue fhading over the piece, which gives the whole a cold afpect.

No. 196. A portrait of Lord Harcourt; a good likeness: but from his lordship being pourtrayed in his peer's robes, and a florid complexion given to him, beyond the liberality of nature, the character appears deftroyed.

No. 256. A vifit of two young ladies to their grand-mother.-A very pleafing picture, in which Mr. Northcote has done himself great honour.

The grandmother is netting; one of the young ladies is at a like employment, and the other reading. Their attitude, air, and referved manner, are extremely well in character; the foot of the girl who has the book, is dif pofed fo as to give an appearance extremely juft and natural to her form. The cat, work-basket, and appertaining objects, are highly finished; but of thefe it must be obferved, that the less diftinguished they are for neat penciling, the more confpicuous the principal objects are of course rendered.

Befides the above-mentioned pieces, are two portraits, No. 158, a formal defign; and No. 387, a more natural performance.

LOGNE, April 22.

ON Monday the 18th of this month, at

three o'clock in the morning, the guns were fired, as a fignal for the balloon to depart for England. The concourfe of people that inftantly met together was very great, and the weather being extremely fine, added to the beauty of the fpectacle. The aerial travellers, Mr. Rofier and Mr. Romain, were much difappointed by the wind changing whilft they were getting their balloon in order; and as it was impoflible for them to reach England, they postponed their expedition till a better opportunity offered. M. Pilatre de Rofier, to amufe the people, permitted the balloon to rife four times, and had two long cords faftened to it, which were held by two people, who let it afcend a proper height. The boat was well contrived, and though it had room for four, yet only two went in at a time. M. Pilatre de Rofier and M. Romain afcended the first time. The Comte de Coloman, with a French lady, the fecond. Two English ladies, the third; and, laftly, another English lady and Mr. W. Fector. After Mr. Fector and the lady had quitted their feats, M. Pilatre had the balloon fecured, and waits with impatience for a favourable wind.

A very large Montgolfiere is preparing with expedition, for Flanders, and, it is thought, will speedily be finished.

INSCRIPTION in honour of BLANCHARD and JEFFRIES.

A tranflation of the infcription that is to be put on the column which is to be erected in commemoration of Mr. Blanchard's aerial journey from Dover to Calais :

In the reign of Louis XVI. In the year M DCC LXXXV. JOHN PETER BLANCHARD, a Frenchman,

Accompanied by JOHN JEFFRIES, an
Englishman,

On the 7th day of January,
At one o'clock in the afternoon,
Set out from Dover-Caftle,
In an Aeroftatic Machine,
Mounting in the air.

He first croffed the Strait,
Between Britain and France,
And, after an aerial courfe of two hours,
Alighted in this place.

The citizens of Guifnes, In admiration of his unexampled boldness, Have erected this monument.

The

filled, which afcended on Thursday, May 5, THE expedition with which the Balloon was from Mr. Dodfwell's, at Moulfey-Hurft, rehad the fole management of the business. dounds highly to the credit of Mr. Sadler, who procefs was begun at thirty-three minutes after five in the morning, and was completely finished before eight. It took up about an hour more to attach the boat, which was fufpended by fiftythree ftrings, to make a convenient difpofition for a portable barometer of a new construction, a thermometer, an hygrometer, a compass, à fmall achromatic, and a speaking trumpet.—

About two or three minutes before nine, the balloon afcended with Mr. Sadler and his companion, and above 300 weight of ballaft, befides the inftruments; its firft courfe was directly against the wind, which fet from S. W. or S. W. by W. It continued in this direction, proceeding flowly, and at a moderate height, and turning very gently on an axis about half an Kour, when it changed its courfe to the fouth, and began to defcend fo rapidly, that the two voyagers were not without apprehenfion, that

their machine was burften at the top; but being prefently lightened of much of its ballaft, which was thrown out in great quantities to leffen the force of the expected fall, it mounted again perpendicularly with great velocity, to a very confiderable height, turning in the former part of its afcent, much more quickly than before upon its axis. To stop its afcent, it was judged neceffary to open the bottom of the balloon by cutting off the filken tube, by which it had been filled, above the ligature. At a great elevation in the atmosphere, it refumed its foutherly courfe, which it foon changed, however, for the eastward direction. Between one and two, the aerial voyagers having paffed over South wark, Dulwich, and fome part of Blackheath, found themselves nearly over the town of Dart ford, and apprehending that they could not proceed much farther without danger of being carried out to fea, they attempted to defcend, and funk their veffel low enough to converfe with the people in the fields. Finding their motion of defcent too quick, they had recourse to the former expedient of throwing out ballaft. In this they went too far, and were carried up again with rapidity to a greater height than they had yet attained. A machine which had been provided to ferve the purpose of a valve, without its inconveniences, failing in the application, they had no means of procuring a decent, but by making from time to time rents in the filk of the balloon, from the edge at bottom, made by the amputation of the tube a good way up the fide, by which free regrefs might be given to the gaz, and a freer admiffion to the air of the atmosphere. They found themfelves croffing the river to the Effex fide a little above Gravefend; apprehending that the courfe which they were now upon, which was marked out to them by the shadow of the balloon on the furface of the water, would foon carry them beyond the Effex coaft, and having little hopes that their veffel could hold out to cross the width of the fea, which on that fide separates our island from the continent, they thought it prudent to have recourfe to their cork jackets, for with fuch they were provided. Fortunately a cross current of the atmosphere rendered the precaution unneceffary, returning them towards the Kentish main, where they finally defcended near the confluence of the Thames and the Medway, scarce a mile from the water's edge. The country people, to whom they had committed the care of the balloon, while their own attention was employed about the inftruments, either through inadvertence, or in fome alarm occafioned by the cracking of the tackle in the wind, fuddenly quitted their hold. The balloon, with the boat attached to it, was in an inftant out of reach, and presently out of fight, at least to the naked eye. Accounts have been received, that fome one obferving with a telefcope, faw it drop into the fea about four miles below the Nore. During the whole flight frequent

obfervations were made of the barometer and thermometer, and an accurate journal was kept of all remarkable occurrences. Our correfpond ent, who has feen it, affures us that in many particulars it is highly curious. The greatest perpendicular height which the travellers at

tained, appears to have been one mile, seven furlongs, fixty-one yards, which is only 159 yards fhort of two miles.

Extract of a letter from Sunderland, relative to the Balloon in which Mr. Sadler and ano ther gentleman afcended from Moulfey:

ON Thursday the 5th of May, about half paft three o'clock, P. M. Capt. Sherwin, of the Peggy, took up a very large balloon, with a boat or basket made faft to it; eaft end of Ship pey Inland bearing W. S. W. nearly distant four or five leagues; the black tail beacon bearing about N. by W. diftant one mile, or there abouts; and the buoy of the Mouse bearing E. by N. diftant two or three miles, or there rection about it, except upon the ballaft-bags, abouts, but not any perfon in it, nor any di-,. on which was marked "Sadler, Oxford."There was no writing, or letters in it, nor any thing but a right-hand glove, a pair of fciffars, a grappling and label, with a fheet or two of it was about two o'clock, at a great distance in writing-paper. When the Captain first saw it, the air, lowering very faft; at half past two judged it might be a balloon; at three it got upon the furface of the water, making its courfe S. E. at the rate of feven or eight miles an to the N. W. occafioned by a breeze from the hour. When he got to it there was no water in the boat, nor any thing broke, but the bottom of the balloon was quite open. He made all the hafte he could to it, for fear that any perfon fhould be in it; but found nothing but

as above.

Mr. BLANCHARD's AERIAL EXPEDITION, May 7.

Mr. Blanchard, who afcended on Saturday, May 7, from Langhorn's Repofitory, in Barbican, defcended the fame day between five and fix at Tamenfields, in Effex, about fixteen miles from Brentwood, and 34 from London, having paffed over the Nore, and fallen within about half a mile of the water. Mr. Blanchard, who, though in excellent fpirits, appeared much fatigued, lay at Tamenfields that night, and next afternoon fet out for London in a poft-chaife, into which he took the balloon inclosed in a fack, the boat and other apparatus being placed on the roof of the carriage. This adventurous atmospherical navigator dined at Brentwood, and the fame evening he arrived at Mr. Sheldon's, in Great Queen-street.

LUNARDI'S AERIAL EXPEDITION. May 12.

Mr. Lunardi having completed his procefs, according to his promife to the public, this day, at a little paft one, afcended from the Artillery. Ground. From the heat of the atmosphere, the air was not fufficiently buoyant to fufpend the balloon, fo as to admit of its carrying the lady who was to have attended the adventurous Italian. Mrs. Sage, the firft female candidate, was found to have more gravity than what belonged to a wife name. Other ladies inftantly began to difpute the palm for volatility, but none

were

374

were deemed fufficient flighty. Mr. Biggin was alfo among the candidates, but could not be accommodated.

Mr. Lunardi, thus circumftanced, determined to afcend alone. He rofe flowly, amidst the acclamations of a numerous concourfe of genteel fpectators; but his affistants, not attending properly to his inftructions, detained him by a rope: at length, he fpiritedly cut the tring, and pulling off his blue coat, put on his city regimentals, and proceeded in a wefterly direction, rather inclining to the northward. The balloon formed a most beautiful fpectacle, but being unfortunately overcharged with vapour, defcended about twenty minutes after it arofe, in the garden belonging to the Adam and Eve tea-house, in Tottenham-Court-road. He was immediately furrounded by great numbers of the populace, and though he propofed re-afcending, they were not to be diffuaded from bearing him in triumph on their fhoulders. The balloon being torn in the fall, the body of vapour which arofe from it, formed a black cloud, which was not difperfed for fome time. Mr. Lunardi expreffed great concern that he had difappointed the public in not being able to make a confiderable tour. It is faid, that he will make another attempt, as foon as his ballcon, which is dodged in the Pantheon, can be repaired.

IRISH AEROSTATIC INTELLIGENCE. Dublin, May 13.

YESTERDAY being fixed for the pofitive afcent of Mr. Crofbie's balloon, after the difagreeable difappointment on the preceding Tuefday, an innumerable multitude again affembled in all the fields, yards, roads, and wafte grounds in and about this city. At length the machine arofe with Mr. Crofbie, who finding his attempts to clear the top of the buildings rather difficult, he came down, and his place was immediately fupplied by an enterprifing young gentleman, fon of Arthur Maguire, Efq. one of the fix clerks

in Chancery, whofe intrepid fpirit cannot be too much admired. The balloon thus occupied arofe to a very confiderable height, and took a western direction for a few minutes; it then became ftationary for a fhort time, and, tacking about, feemed to move in a flow and steady manner towards the north-eaft, in which direction it gained a greater diftance from the earth. Its progrefs was continued in the fame point, as long as the eye of a fpectator could difcern, till it was loft in the great expanse.

We are concerned to find that the enterprize of the youth, Enfign Maguire, who took Mr. Crofbie's ftation yesterday, in the chariot attached to the balloon, was nearly proving fatal to him; though the wind blew a steady gale all the day from the fouth-east, and continued fo even till night, it appeared, that when the balloon had afcended into an altitude of about two hundred yards, it got into a current of air blowing from the fouth-west, which of courfe impelled it over Fingal to the fea; this being obferved by Lord Jocelyn and fome other gentlemen, they rode to Mallahide, where hiring a fishing boat, they purfued the track of the balloon, which, about two leagues from land, they obferved defcending on the water, into which Mr. Maguire, on feeing them, threw himself, and kept fwimming, perfectly collected, until they reached him; and in a fhort time had the pleasure of restoring the adventurous aeronaut to land, at Howth, where he was put to bed for a fhort time, and after receiving fome refreshment was conducted to town by a number of gentlemen, and, in the evening (amidst the accla mations of a great number of followers) was fafely lodged in his father's house, in Dawsonftreet.

Enfign Maguire certainly intended, and in all probability would have accomplished a flight across the Channel, if by fome accident the balloon,, from which he was fufpended, had not

burit.

REVIE W. CXXI.

had

cation itfelf ftood high in the estimation of thofe readers who pry into ancient philofophy, or hunt after modern criticifm. An editor of Manilius muft doubtlefs have made fome proficiency in claffical literature; yet the well-meant endeavours of Mr. B. to rescue Manilius from oblivion, to

adjust

adjust his text, and to elucidate his obfcurities, have not, in our prefence at leaft, been once made the fubject of literary converfation.

The poet, of whom Mr. B. has undertaken to be the editor, is not, we believe, read very extenfively, or admired very highly. Virgil is again and again perufed by all scholars with invigorated curiofity and increafing pleasure. His elaborate phrafeology is ftudied with critical exactnefs, and the fplendid paffages with which he abounds are faithfully remembered and familiarly quoted. The glowing and animated ftyle of Statius will for ever preferve him from neglect. The interefting events which Lucan describes, and the profound obfervations upon politics and philofophy which are diffufed over his poem, are inftructive to the hiftorian, and interefting to the patriot. There are few scholars to whom Valerius Flaccus and Sil. Italicus are totally unknown; but Manilius is generally supposed to be deftitute of every excellence which can attract the notice, or reward the labour of modern readers. His philofophy, even where it is exact, contains no important information, and his aftrology, though it be fingular, does not furnish exquifite entertainment: he is barren of epifode: in fome of his exordiums he is tedious; and not one of his conclufions is wrought up with dignity or with pathos:his metaphors are violent, and fometimes incongruous: his diction is harfh and intricate, and his numbers are neither fupported with uniform grandeur, nor relieved by well-placed variety. For thefe reafons the whole of his work is toiled through by few readers, and few detached paffages are felected from him as brilliant in quotation. Manilius coldly tells us,

"Ornari res ipfa negat contenta doceri." And the juftnefs of his affertion is abundantly verified by the tirefome uniformity of his work.-Lucretius acknowledges the difficulties he was to

encounter,

"Propter egeftatem linguæ & rerum novitatem." But he created beauties which his fubject did not immediately furnish, and

he enriched that language, the scantinefs of which he deplores. He always reafons with the fagacity of a philofopher: he often defcribes with the enthusiasm of a poet. In thofe parts of his. poem which are leaft entertaining, his verfes, though rugged, are feldom feeble, and his fenfe, though obfcure, is never trifling. In many parts he furprizes and charms the most faftidious reader with the tenderness of his fentiments, the harmony of his numbers, and the fplendour of his ftyle.

But whatever be the imperfections of Manilius, we do not think him altogether deferving of the neglect into which he has fallen. As the works of Eratofthenes and Dorotheus Sidonius are not come down to us, Manilius may be confidered as the depofitory of materials which otherwife would have entirely perished in the wreck of time. His obfervations upon the events of human life, upon the irrefiftible decrees of fate, and the awful difpenfations of Providence, fometimes carry with them a pleafing air of folemnity. To the man of learning he will not be without ufe, in fupporting canons of criticism, and to thofe who would excel in Latin verfe, he may now and then fupply affiftance in diversifying thofe ideas which have been expreffed more fuccefsfully by abler poets of antiquity, and have been imitated more frequently by writers of later times.

We accede to the opinion of thofe who would place Manilius in the Auguftan age, and we believe that he wrote about the clofe of it. The external evidence upon this point is very fcanty and very indecifive; and to the peremptory affertions and undiftinguifhing praife of modern critics it would not be entirely impertinent to oppofe contradictions as positive, and cenfures as vehement, which may be found in writers of nearly equal authority. Our own opinion is, however, founded upon internal evidence; for after repeated and attentive perufal we have experienced what the fagacious and candid Gerard Voffius, who once thought differently, confeffes with his ufual fairnefs and fim

plicity,