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The following extract on first principles, will give our reader fome idea of the performance.

The first principle of the exercife of the firelock (and of all fire-arms) is, to make the man who exercises it, load as quick as it fhall be poffible for him to load, and be fure to hit the object fired at-be fure, as much as man can, to kill.

All motions which have no relation to killing or maiming, which are neither offenfive or defenfive, are foreign to the weapon.

• Without firing at a mark, men will not be marksmen ; and, without being fure to kill, foldiers are not in the best poffible ftate for war.

A battalion whofe fire is certain and deadly, kills, stops, and conquers; a battalion, whofe fire is unfure, is unkilling, will not ftop, and may be conquered.

The principle of the exercise of the fword, is to make the thruft fure, to give knowledge to guard, parry, and be certain of the cut. Soldiers who wear fwords, and do not exercise that weapon at all, or not fully up to its true principle, cannot bid fair to kill or wound their enemies, although liable to receive wounds and death themfelves.-He who miffes his thruft in charging, may be killed; and he who cannot parry, may be cut.

The first principles of all bodily training for a foldier, are, to make him hardy and robuft, capable to maintain health amidst fatigue, bad weather, and change of climate; to march at fuch poffible pace, and for fuch length of time, and with fuch burden, as, without training, he would not be able to do-and to make him ready at all changes of pofition. -No training at all for thefe ends, or a flight one, cannot be confiftent with true principles, must be the cause of infinite mortality among troops when they go to war, and be an abfolute bar and impediment to many attempts and fucceffes.

The principles of all horfe-training are nearly the fame. 'with those of the foot foldier.-That the horse be well broke, obedient to his rider, ready at all changes of pofition, vigorous, hardy, a good marcher with his burden, long winded, fupple, and, in proportion to his make, fwift.-Horfes trained entirely up to the above points, are in the beft poflible state for war.

The principle of all changes of pofition for a regiment, are, to make one or more fronts, to contract and re-extend the front in all its various modes: hence, one, two, or three different forts of change cannot be fufficient, but a readiness and expertness in all muft be neceffary for the neceflities of

war.

• If any particular fort of evolution is unpra&ifed, a cafe in war may come that will demand such evolution; and, if depth or extenfion are not in readiness when the occafion demands either, the enemy will fometimes be improperly opposed.

• The first principles of the manner in which all changes of pofition are to be performed, are, order, dire&nefs, and the greateft poffible rapidity :-therefore all manœuvres in diforder, not done in the shortest way poffible, and without the neceffary, or the utmost poffible rapidity, are effentially wanting.

• Disorder can never be proper to oppose an enemy.

A change of pofition argues neceffity, and all neceffities of war muft ever be beft answered by quickness.-Hence all wheelings fhould be rapid, and those of foot, in general, by files, which are preferable to an uniform, entire wheel. In changing pofition, that method which fooneft prefents oppofition and front to an enemy, must be beft: hence, to change position by files, except in very particular cases, must be fuperior to any other method; for if the body wheeling is more than a platoon, half of it will be up in front ready to fire in wheeling by files, before any front or oppofition would be formed in wheeling by the entire, uniform wheel.

The oppofition, the charge of cavalry, depends not on fire, but upon the entire uniform front of the body to charge,Hence all cavalry wheel uniformly and undividedly.

The principle of all clothing and covering of any fort for the foldier, is to give the best healthful defence against the weather, and, at the fame time, permitting a free ufe of the body and limbs."

This Effay is wrote with energy and concifenefs; the foldier, the scholar, and the man of fenfe are confpicuous through the whole; and we heartily recommend the perufal of it to all gentlemen of the military profeflion.

XI. The Art of dreffing the Hair. A Poem. Humbly infcribed to the Members of the T. N. Club, By E. P. Philocefm. and late Hair-Drefer to the faid Society. 410. Pr. 15..6d. Carnan and Newbery.

THIS poem is not fo didactic as we might expect it would

be, from its name; but this we do not consider as a defect, because no man who can relish a good poem pays any regard to the minute rules of hair-dreffing.

We hope the title page of the piece is not without its poetry, or fiction: the author of it should never have been a

hair-dreffer, as he fays he once was: the man who can write fuch fine verfes, fhould never have thrown away his time on adjufting the inferior and infignificant elegance of a coxcomb.

However, if fuch has been his misfortune, he has here taken no finall revenge on the petit maitres. He has couched a delicate fatire under his inftructions; his precepts throw poignant ridicule upon an art which they feem to patronize.

This poem contains many spirited strokes of moral irony, and fome fevere fketches of unpopular characters.

It well deferves the attention of our readers; though it is more entertaining than uniform, more fpirited than correct. The fentiments are just and lively; the verfification is vigorous and harmonious.

:

His invocation of Apollo is as humorous as it is new and his description of the dull fop, who, though he had no docility at college, made a wonderful progress under the difcipline of the curling tongs, might have a good effect, if unthinking coxcombs could be prevailed upon to reflect, and fee the extravagance of their folly.

Oh Phobus! patron of the fons of fong,
God of the quacking and the fiddling throng;
Let my low fhop be with thy prefence bleft,
And all thy raptures ftruggle in my breaft!
What tho' untaught by art thy ringlets twine,
No engines fcorch, or papillotes confine;
What tho', unfhorn, the honours of thy head
In wild luxuriance down thy fhoulders fpread,
Nor bag hath dar'd enclose, or ribbon tye,
Nor borrow'd locks their friendly help fupply;
What tho' no briftles thy fmooth chin conceal,
But down eternal, innocent of steel;

Let not in vain an honest Barber fue,

Tho' ne'er the labours of his hand you knew;
But like my razor makes my lines appear,
Smooth, tho' not dull; and sharp, tho' not severe.
And fince these hands, on many an empty pate
Ne'er form'd by nature for difpenfing fate;
Oft have been taught the mighty bush to lay,
Which gave the bearer privilege to flay;
Who without learning had obtain❜d degrees,
By stealing theses, and by paying fees:
Teach me what ungents will the lofs repair,
When falling treffes leave the temples bare;
What ftyptic juices will affiftance lend,
Relax'd and weaken'd if the curls depend.
VOL. XXIX. June, 1770.

H h

• Nor

Nor ye grave mortals, too fevere and fage
For the light follies of this fportive age,
Frown, that I fo much tenderness exprefs
For outward polish, and the arts of drefs.
Not he that thinks all night, and plods all day,
Will captivate the fair, or please the gay;
Not letters, your abfurd pedantic plan,
Drefs and the barber's art compleat the man.
Oft have I known a youth, whose leaden skull
His tutors curft, impenetrably dull;
Who toil'd from clafs to class with labour fore,
Some little learning got, but flogging more;
Yet by my care into perfection grow,

And tho' no fcholar, prove a charming beau.'

Not to quote the following lines, would, to a certain degree, be injurious to fociety: they expose, with a laudable severity, a private, and a publick kind of robbery, which are too much practifed amongst the great.

• In fcorn fee gloomy Harpax roll his eyes
On paltry hundreds, as too mean a prize:
When, doubling ev'ry stake, each lavish heir
Draws a fresh fource of courage from despair,
He, like Drawcanfir, rufhes on the foe,
And beggars ten Superiors at a throw.
Blafpheming Verres damns his empty purse;
Ev'n foft Narciffus lifps out half a curse.

If in Volpone a thousand arts you trace
Beyond the native cunning of his race;
Muft you not say? tho' ftudious to admire;
Great is the fon, but greater ftill the fire:
This boldly foaring in a dangerous sphere,
Plunder'd a nation; that but ftrips a peer.'

In his description of a masquerade, there is a delicacy and poignancy of fancy, and a harmony of numbers which would not have been unworthy of Mr. Pope.

In lucid chrystal flows the sparkling wine,
Fruit of the Gallick or Iberian vine;
Soft thrilling melody diffolves the foul,
And round in clouds Sabæan odours roll.
In rush the motley throng; of fhape and hue,
Strange as e'er fancy form'd, or pencil drew:
Quakers that ne'er of inward light bad heard,
Fryars unfhorn, and Jews without a beard;

Nuns,

Nuns, with no title to the facred name
But what their hopes of abfolution claim;
Pert Muffelmen that ne'r the Koran read,
Spaniards all life, and harlequins all lead.
Fame, on St. Paul's who took her awful stand,
Sent the loud tale in thunder thro' the land.
White's fullen offspring heard the piercing found,
And dropp'd their cards in terror on the ground:
The Dilettanti trembled as it flew,

Turn'd pale with envy, and blafphem'd Vertù.'

We fhall now take leave of this gay fatirift, A few examples discover genius to those who are fufceptible of its effects.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

12. The True Alarm. 8vo. Pr. 25. Almon.

Although we find no reason to retract the remark we of fered upon the comparative view of this writer, it must be confeffed the important facts laid before the public in the True Alarm, deferve attention. Many effential defects in the conftitution and present conduct of the Eat-India company are clearly stated and expofed. Several mistakes, indeed, appear in the writer's relation of matters of fact; but in general, his reflections and reafoning are judicious. Happy would it be for the public were it as eafy to apply a remedy, as to point out the errors in the prefent management of affairs.

Our author is of opinion, that a-n should affume to themfelves the fovereignty in India, leaving to the company only the commercial department. This meafure, he affirms to be founded in right, and dictated by policy and neceffity. We embrace fentiments diametrically oppofite: the fovereignty in question was obtained by gradual fteps, and a series of fuccefsful measures, taken in felf-defence, authorized by charter, approved by government, agreeable to the laws of nations and communities, and fupported at the rifque, the expence, and with the blood of the company.

The vaft encrease of power, influence, and money, which fo rich a jewel in the crown would throw into the hands of m-s, might prove fatal to the liberties of this country, The novelty, the delicacy, and the injuftice of fuch an infraction of compact, would excite apprehenfions in the minds of all men, whose property depended on public faith. Stock would receive fo mortal a wound, that many thousand families muft thereby

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