Mr. W. proceeds to animadvert on the delay of justice, in the practice of our law courts; which he confiders as a ftill more fericus caufe of complaint: but for his remarks on this head we must refer to his book, as well as for what he obferves with respect to other fimilar topics. With regard to his own,-well-known,-attachment to the great caufe of REFORM, he obferves that he is flill willing to hope that this caufe is at this moment, as it has been for feveral years, progreffive; because, as he conceives, the intereft and honour of England, as a nation, are deeply concerned in its accomplishment.' Should this, (he adds,) be attended with fuccefs, even in the last period of my life, I fhall look with fatisfaction on the injuries which have been attempted against my perfon, my family, and my property, confider. ing, that the failure of thofe attempts may have had fome fhare in promoting the general benefit. But were it poffible that, at the approach of the nineteenth century, the people of England fhould have totally abandoned their national character, and, conveying the poifon of corruption to their own lips, fhould fit down tamely under an eftablifhed defpotifm, thofe few who have endeavoured to prevent fo deadly a calamity, will, at leaft, have the confolation" that as men employ the talents God has given them here, they shall accordingly receive their reward at the clofe of the day, when their fun fhall iet, and when night fhall put an end to their labours." With refpect to the general contents of this large pamphlet, (of 161 pages,) they confift, collectively, of refolutions, declarations, ad. vertisements, letters, addreffes, &c. &c. of various political focieties and clubs relative to the fubject of parliamentary reform; and to the Manchester riots, which appear to equal, if not to exceed the atrocities of the ever memorable Birmingham mobs.-On the whole, it is a curious collection of narratives, vouchers, and other authentic materials, relative to a very important and highly interesting subject. Art. 60. Literary and Critical Remarks, on fundry eminent Divines and Philofophers of the laft and prefent Age. Particularly Raleigh, Cudworth, Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Bolingbroke, Shaftfbury, Bishop Butler, Dr. Blair, Dr. Gregory, Bishop Porteus, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Hurd, Mrs. M. Graham, Dr. Priestley, &c. Combining Obfervations on Religion and Government, the French Revolution, &c. with an Appendix, containing a Short Differtation on the Exiftence, Nature, and Extent of the Prophetic Powers of the Human Mind, with Examples of feveral eminent Prophecies, of what is now acting, and foon to be fulfilled upon the great Theatre of Europe. Particularly thofe of Bishop Newton, Baron Swedenbourg, Daniel Defoe, Drs. Priestley, Goldfmith, Smollet, &c. Svo. pp. 489. 63. Boards. Crofby. 1795. There are certain fundamental qualifications, which the public has an unquestionable right to expect in every writer who affumes the character of a critic. He, for example, who takes upon him to cenfure or to commend the opinions of others, ought to have fome clear and fettled opinions of his own; he who prefumes to país his judgment on doctrines and fyftems fhould before-hand take care to understand them; he who fets himself up as a judge of ftyle fhould at least be able to write correctly. Without fear of incurring the charge of arrogance, or of vanity, we readily acknowlege the reafonablenefs of thefe expectations expectations with refpect to us, as Reviewers; and we deem ourselves obliged, in dury, to make them our rule of judging, whenever our office calls us to fpeak of the critical talents of others. We muit therefore honeftly and plainly declare, with regard to the prefent work, that the author appears to us to be in all refpects unequal to the task which he has undertaken. In the courfe of his lucubrations, this critic touches on a great variety of fubjects, theological, metaphyfical, political, and philological: but fo thick a mift of obfcurity hangs over his fpeculations, and fo deftitute are they of harmony and confiftency, that we cannot fuppofe him to have attentively ftudied the various fubjects on which he treats. At one time, he declaims against mystery and the Athanafian creed; at another, he feems to admit a Trinity in the divine Nature, and even refers the Platonic Triad to divine revelation. He inveighs bitterly against materialism, and Dr. Priestley; yet he speaks of the fubftance of the Divine Nature as fyftematically one, but infinitely divifible. In politics, he declaims against defpotifm, aristocracy, and Mr. Burke; yet he prefumes to affert that liberty has often brought England to the brink of deftruction, and to ask whether Englishmen are happier than the fubjects of arbitrary governments? With respect to this writer's fyftem of philofophy, fome conjecture may be formed from his notion concerning dreams, fairies, and apparitions. He accounts for dreams by fuppofing them the immediate effect of fpiritual agency; and he declares, on his foul, that he, who is unable to compofe a good tune, has heard or feemed to hear in his fleep much fine mufic, of higher mood' than he has ever heard when awake. As to the opinions, (fays he,) of other kinds of invifible Beings, by whatever name denominated, I have, in a field of my own, feen, and hewn to others, various rings on the grafs, as true as if drawn with the compafs.' As to ghofts that perambulate churchyards at the dead of night, in defiance of the ridicule of felf-fufficient fciolifts, he believes that fuch things are; he even avers that he lately heard a young gentleman folemnly declare that he twice faw, at the foot of his bed, for five minutes each time, the apparition of a horse which he had abused, and heard it groan thrice. We must add a few fpecimens of this literary and critical remarker's powers of criticism and tafte in philology;—and, first, a few of his bold trokes of general character. Locke is not a great favourite with me, and Lord Shaftesbury is not entirely to iny tafte.'-' Locke, a plaufible diffeminator of all metaphyfical abominations.' If Dr. Priestley is not out of his mind, his mind is doubtlefs out of him.'-' Dr. King wrote a book to account for the origin of evil whilft he denied its exiflence! King of fools! Mrs. Macaulay Graham is unable, poor gentlewoman, to write a quarter of a page without contradiction or ambiguity:'- but few expect in a woman any deeper waters than a trout fream.' Next, for a curious example, or two, of concife criticifm.-Dr. Blair's Sermons, vol. i. ferm. 14. is an excellent one, if it did not verge fomewhat to Mandevilianifm and predeftination.' Bishop Porteus's Sermons, No. viii. I fhall fet down the text only, Titus, ii. 6. Young men likewife exhort to be fober minded.' This ftyle of criticifm reminds us of the Spectator's very laconic correfpondent Bob Short. Some Sometimes the author takes a rather larger compafs. For example: On Dr. Blair's obfervation, that the very words which will be pronounced in the day of judgment are recited,- Come ye blessed, &c. his remark is: This I cannot but confider as abfurd, unless our author had informed us of the language in which it will be fpoken.' We will now difplay fome of the author's curious phrafeology:-' to expunge knaves and fools from the face of eternity: an intermediate condition of things, between contingency and human freedom on one fide, and prefcience and neceffity on the other: Sterne's production is fo defultory and precarious, as well as affected, that the reader is continually eluded and difappointed.' Dr. Blair's third volume engages with a natural fimplicity of elevation, combined with an amplitude of conception and with eloquence; is enamelled with choice of words, elegance of tatte in the compofition, and felection and ap plication of texts, and concludes with an apex of jolemnity.' Laftly, we shall exhibit a few inttances of falfe grammar; temporary refidence fem to have been required: p. 67.- happiness or nifery depend; p. 69 the reconcilement of even the moderate opiniens of men to the doctrines of christianity are nice and difficult;were the aЯive affection in men of genius, whether the fervants of God or not, to reflect that precious endowment back to the fountain whence it was derived, doubtlefs they cannot offer a more grateful tribute.' After having produced thefe vouchers of the author's critical abilities, it is icarcely worth while to inform our readers, that the fermons of Bishop Butler, Dr. Gregory, Mr.Taylor (or Dr. Johnson), and Dr. Blair, Bishop Hurd's Dialogues, Mrs. Macaulay Graham's Letters on Education, and Dr. Prielley's Difquifitions, are the principal works here defcribed. The reft of the divines and philofophers, mentioned in the title, are curforily noticed. The appendix contains a collection of prophecies, the fulfilment of many of which may be expected, by the credulous, to happen even in the time of perfons now living. Among other materials of this fort, we find a remarkable paper, faid to have been written by the late Dr. Smollet, not long before his death, in a private letter to a friend. - Concerning the authenticity of this paper, our opinion has been asked by a correfpondent, who figns his letter "An old and constant Reader." It is G. impoffible for us to give any judgment as to the genuineness of the article in question. There is little in it unworthy of the ingenious Doctor's literary character: but he cannot be faid to have given his opinions on the figns of the times then revolving before him, as prophecies. Any man, fo capable as Dr. Smollet of fhrewd obfervation, night have predicted, as he did, from natural caufes, the revolutions, that have fince taken place in America and France. E. Art. 61. Obfervations on the Emigration of Dr. Jofeph Priestley, and on the feveral Addreffes delivered to him on his Arrival at New York. 8vo. pp. 63. 15. 6d. Reprinted for Stockdale, London. 1794. Frequently as we have differed in opinion from Dr. Priestley, we fhould think it an act of injustice to his merit not to fay that the numerous and important fervices which he has rendered to fcience, and the unequivocal proofs which he has given of at least honeft intentions towards the caufe of religion and christianity, ought to have protected him from fuch grofs infults as are poured on him in this pamphlet.-Of the author's literary talents, we fhall fay but little: the phrases setting down to count the coft; the rights of man the greatest bore in nature; and the appellation of rigmarole ramble given to a correct sentence of Dr. Friestley, which the author attempts to criticize; may ferve as fpecimens of his language. The pitiful attempt at wit, in his vulgar. fable of the pitcher haranguing the pans and jordans, will gain him little credit as a writer, with readers of elegant tafte. No cenfure, however, can be too fevere for a writer who fuffers the rancour of party spirit to carry him fo far beyond the bounds of justice, truth, and decency, as to speak of Dr. Priestley as a man who is an admirer of the maffacres of France, and who would have withed to fee the town of Birmingham, like that of Lyons, razed, and all its induftrious and loyal inhabitants butchered: as a man whofe conduct proves that he has either an understanding little fuperior to that of an ideot, or the heart of a Marat: in short, as a man who fled into banishment covered with the universal deteftation of his countrymen. The fpirit, which could dictate fuch outrageous abufe, mult difgrace any indivi dual and any party. We have no doubt that London has the honour of being the native place of this production; although it is pretended, at the bottom of the title-page, that it was originally printed at Philadelphia. E. Art. 62. La Souriciere. The Moufe Trap. A facetious and fentimental Excurfion through Part of Auftrian Flanders and France. By Timothy Touchit, Eiq. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Parfons. 1794 Very flimfy and very licentious; incapable of doing good, and calculated to do evil. SINGLE SERMONS. Art. 63. A Faft Sermon, preached Feb. 28, 1794. By Richard Weaver, Author of an Expofition of the Church Catechism, Curate of Draycot-Cerne, Wilts, and Mafter of the Academy at Chippenham. 8vo. IS. Baldwin. G.2. The great object of many faft-fermons, which were published during the last year, was to animate us to ufe our beft exertions in a vigorous profecution of the war; and this is likewife the main purport of the prefent discourse. Be unanimous, fays the preacher, in the concluding fentence, and refolute in the fupport of our gracious Sovereign; and by defpifing the wicked infinuations of thofe who would promote infurrection for the fake of plunder, fuffer no internal commotions or divifions to weaken your efforts against a common and most inveterate enemy?? Certainly we ought to do our utmost, and strain every nerve, in the defence of our country against every enemy, foreign or domestic: but we trust that there were none, among Mr. W.'s hearers, in the loyal county of Wilts, who could poffibly be fo depraved as to lend a favourable ear to wretches who would promote infurrection for the fake of plunder. Such atrocity could only be imagined of a London mob, compofed of pick-pockets, foot-pads, and houfe-breakers. So good a writer as Mr. W. might have been deemed fuperior to fuch unreArained fallies. Art. 120 Art. 64. Religious Fear of God, and faithful Allegiance to our King, re- 15. From the precepts Fear God; honour the king,' taken in connection, the author of this fermon inculcates loyalty as a religious duty; not, however, on the antient high notion of the divine right of kings, but merely on the ground that God permits kings to reign, and magistrates to bear authority under them, for preferving that or der and fubordination without which fociety could not exist. With refpect to prefent politics, the author falls into the common error of miftaking diffatisfaction with the proceedings of administration, for difaffection toward the British conftitution and government; and he charges thofe, who with for a change of meafures, &c. as promoters of fedition, who conceal a dagger in their bofoms for the deftruction of their country. Idle fufpicions and illiberal reflections of this kind, which have of late been too frequent, by exciting and fpreading falfe alarms and groundlefs jealoufies, are exceedingly injurious to the community, as well as to individuals. CORRESPONDENCE. We must terminate our correspondence with Mr. Heffe: he may reft affured that we had no other motive than a love of truth for We are very ready pointing out five or fix of the errors in his book. to inform our readers that he declares the grammatical blunder, noticed by us in page 5 of his introduction, to have been an error of the prefs; and that he has fhewn the correction of page 117 to be proper. As to the other particulars, we retain our opinion; and we think that he has abundant, reafon to be fatisfied with our having faid that "his vocabulary is a convenient felection, and that his phrafes are adapted to their object." +++ C. P. lays too much ftrefs, in the inftance to which he adverts, on the difference between author and editor. The title of the work in queftion fufficiently prevents any mistake or delufion. 1st We are obliged to A. Z. for his remarks, to which we shall attend. XII The letter of our friendly grammarian J. B. J. dated 23 1794, was duly received: The notice to J. B. was for another correfpondent; and though we have not had, and particularly have not now, leisure to anfwer J. B.J.'s communications at length, they are before us, and are not neglected. We are convinced, however, that it will be impoffible for us always to attend to the orthographical niceties which he difcuffes. The variety and temporary nature of our labours are infuperable bars in this respect. Sts Letters from O. P. Clericus, &c. &c. remain for confideration. E. Tay P. 63 & C4. for Glacier de Bois, r. Glacier des Bos. 64. l.q. fr.bott. dele (l'Arve.) |