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This practice has fo fuccefsfully rooted the illiberal and vulgar antipathy to the unfortunate defcendants of Abraham, that few people perhaps now hear a Jew mentioned, without thinking of the cruel Shylock, or of cunning little Ifaac.

Several years ago, in the 6th number of "The Obferver," Mr. Cumberland remarked the abfurdity and inhumanity of this practice, and, with his ufual elegance, illuftrated the subject by introducing a letter of complaint from a Jew. In the poftfcript, Ab. Abrahams adds, "I hope I fhall not give offence if I fay, that if you could perfuade one of the gentlemen or ladies who write plays to give us poor Jews a kind lift in a new Comedy, I am bold to promife we fhould not prove ungrateful on a third night."-This kind lift Mr. Cumberland himself has given to them. He has written a comedy, the principal defign of which is to exhibit on the ftage the character of an honeft and charitable Jew; and the task is executed with the fame foundness of judgment and elegance of taste which have diftinguifhed Mr. C.'s former productions.-There are indeed, in the play, few incidents either to excite or to gratify the fpectator's curiofity; and the reft of the characters, as in a well-grouped picture, are only introduced to give prominence and diftinction to the principal figure:-but the character of the Jew is admirably drawn; and, allowing for some caricature heightening, which was doubtless thought neceffary to increafe the effect of reprefentation, we are willing to believe that it is a portrait of which, in the main features, originals exift in real life. It is furely poffible for a man, as Sheva (the Jew) fays, to love his money very well, and yet to love his friends better. The moral fentiments of the piece are a confiderable addition to its value. Of the language it is nearly unneceflary to speak, for Mr. C. cannot write ill-but we must remark that many excellent fentences occur in the dialogue.

In the mouth of Sheva's man, Jabal, an excellent character in the walk of low humour, the following pun is at leaft paffable:- - Our people have never tafted bacon fince they came out of the land of Ham.' The duel between the two friends, Frederic and Charles, Sheva's beneficiaries, produces little effe, and might very well have been spared.

As a fpecimen, we quote the following fcene between Sheva and Frederic:

Sheva. You are welcome, Mr. Bertram: our business may quickly be difpatch'd. You want three hundred pounds-I have made shift to fcrape that fum together, and it is ready for you.

Fred. Alas, Sheva! fince laft I faw you I am fo totally undone, that it wou'd now be robbery to take your money.-My father has expelled me from his house.

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• Shera.

the fermon on evil-fpeaking.-Scriptural quotations are frequently, and, in general, properly introduced. To this, however, there are fome exceptions: among which we fhall particularly mention the application of our Saviour's parable of the invited guests to the Lord's fupper. Claffical allufions, alfo, fometimes occur, but with no great propriety in fermons which are faid to have been chiefly delivered to a country congregation. Before fuch an affemblage, to talk of the response of the oracle to the Circæans, or of Antinous in Homer, is to preach to them in Greek.

From a writer fo converfant with the antients, a greater degree of precifion and more elegance of ftyle might have been expected than will generally be found in these fermons. A few of the peculiarities and obfcurities of our author's language we shall take leave to select.-Of our Saviour, he fays; he who could measure heaven and earth with a span, became a child of a span long.' He speaks of comforts more mortal than mortality itfelf;' of the moft feraphic of men' being liable to the transports of paffion; and of our fubfcription to the wifdom, power and goodness of God, fecuring us from danger.'-To thefe we add the following paffage at greater length, because we find ourfelves incapable of decyphering its meaning:

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There is a peculiar harmony in these words, [Nehemiah, xiii. 22.] worthy of Nehemiah, who was fo excellent a pattern of piety and wif dom. While he raised the fort of his confidence in the expectation of a blessed reward, he laid the foundation of it upon an humble conceit. Uniting his virtues in a golden fhrine, and fymbolizing his actions, like the elements in compounded bodies. To have only faid, "Re-. member me," would imply much prefumption; or only, " Pardon me,' might truly have argued a total neglect of Chriftian converfation.' Vol. i. p. 52, 53..

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Notwithstanding the inaccuracies and defects which we have remarked in these fermons, we must do the author the justice to fay that they are not deftitute of proofs of learning and ability, and, as practical difcourfes, may be perufed with profit.

ART. XI. Letters to the Peers of Scotland. By the Earl of Lauderdale. 8vo. pp. 318. 5s. fewed. Robinsons. 1794.

No man, in our opinion, can differ more widely from another than Lord Lauderdale, addreffing his fellow fenators in the Houfe of Lords, differs from Lord Lauderdale addreffing his conftituent peers through the medium of the prefs. We do not mean to apply this obfervation to his Lordship's principles, nor in the moft diftant degree to charge him with inconfiftency: for we are ready to bear our teftimony to the perfect confiftency of his po

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Sheva. Oh! that is very kind; he wou'd give you the preference when he had none himself.

Fred Juft fo: but what acknowledgment fhall I give you for thefe bills?

Sheva. None, none; I do acknowledge them myself with very great pleasures in ferving you, and no fmall pains in parting from them. I pray you make yourself and pretty wife comfortable with the monies, and I will comfort myself as well as I can without them—Ah, poor Sheva! when thou art beggar man, who will take pity of thee? -Well, well! no matter-now I must take a little walk about my bufinefs-I pray you pardon my unpoliteness.

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Fred. No apology: I am gone-Farewell, Sheva! Thou a mifer! thou art a prince. [Exit.

Sheva. Jabal! open the door.'

We have heard, but we know not whether it be a fact, that the fons of Levi have not been backward in teftifying their gratitude to Mr. Cumberland for his honourable attention to

their fame.

ART. X. Sermons. By the Rev. Thomas Harwood, late of Univerfity College, Oxford, and Mafter of Litchfield School. 8vo. 2 Vols. pp. 449. 10s. Boards. Robinfons. 1794. IN eftimating the merit of fermons committed to the prefs, we may perhaps be fometimes apt to expect too much. Many difcourfes, which neither furnifh ingenious fpeculation for the learned nor elegant amufement for the polite reader, may nevertheless be very useful as popular addreffes on religious and moral topics. Of this kind, chiefly, is the merit of the fermons before us. The preacher, though orthodox in his fyftem, rather teaches the doctrines of religion as myfteries to be believed, than as propolitions to be proved; and he chiefly directs the attention of his hearers to the duties of piety and morality. The reader will meet with a few entire difcourfes on fubjects purely theological, fuch as, faith in the fcriptures, the nativity of Chrift, and the Chriftian facraments: but the fermons are, for the most part, practical; tending to illuftrate and enforce, in general terms, and by a popular kind of amplification, the obligations of religion. The topics of thefe are, The Divine Omniprefence; rafh judgment; the love of our enemies; the neceflity and efficacy of religious fervice; confeffion of fin; the protection of God; falfehood; fwearing; growing in grace; the importance of a religious behaviour; mourning; purity of heart; evil-fpeaking; repentance; apoftacy.

In the compofition of thefe fermons, the author has not been duly attentive to method. When the text would naturally lead to the difcuffion of one fingle point, feveral different topics are often confusedly introduced. This is particularly the cafe in

the

the fermon on evil-fpeaking.-Scriptural quotations are frequently, and, in general, properly introduced. To this, however, there are fome exceptions: among which we shall particularly mention the application of our Saviour's parable of the invited guests to the Lord's fupper. Claffical allufions, alfo, fometimes occur, but with no great propriety in fermons which are faid to have been chiefly delivered to a country congregation. Before fuch an affemblage, to talk of the refponfe of the oracle to the Circæans, or of Antinous in Homer, is to preach to them in Greek.

From a writer fo converfant with the antients, a greater degree of precifion and more elegance of ftyle might have been expected than will generally be found in these fermons.

A few of the peculiarities and obfcurities of our author's language we shall take leave to felect. Of our Saviour, he fays; he who could. measure heaven and earth with a span, became a child of a span long.' He speaks of comforts more mortal than mortality itself;' of the most feraphic of men' being liable to the transports of paffion; and of our fubfcription to the wisdom, power and goodness of God, fecuring us from danger.'-To these we add the following paffage at greater length, because we find ourfelves incapable of decyphering its meaning:

There is a peculiar harmony in thefe words, [Nehemiah, xiii. 22.] worthy of Nehemiah, who was fo excellent a pattern of piety and wif dom. While he raised the fort of his confidence in the expectation of a bleffed reward, he laid the foundation of it upon an humble conceit. Uniting his virtues in a golden fhrine, and fymbolizing his actions, like the elements in compounded bodies. To have only faid, "Remember me," would imply much prefumption; or only, "Pardon me," might truly have argued a total neglect of Chriftian converfation.' Vol. i. p. 52, 53..

Notwithstanding the inaccuracies and defects which we have remarked in these fermons, we must do the author the justice to fay that they are not deftitute of proofs of learning and ability, and, as practical difcourfes, may be perufed with profit.

ART. XI. Letters to the Peers of Scotland. By the Earl of Lauderdale. 8vo. pp. 318. 5s. fewed. Robinfons. 1794.

No man, in our opinion, can differ more widely from another than Lord Lauderdale, addreffing his fellow fenators in the Houfe of Lords, differs from Lord Lauderdale addreffing his conftituent peers through the medium of the prefs. We do not mean to apply this obfervation to his Lordship's principles, nor in the moft diftant degree to charge him with inconfiftency for we are ready to bear our teftimony to the perfect confiftency of his po

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litical character, in which we have never witneffed the leaft wavering nor tergiverfation. The remark with which we fet out we wish to apply folely to his Lordship's manner. As a fpeaker in parliament, he difplays an ardor and a vehemence which may the more readily be confidered as intemperate, as the subject of the debate is often of a nature calculated rather to fupprefs warmth than to call it forth: he is femper idem; his action is as vehement, and his diction as ardent, when speaking on a turnpike bill, as when inveighing against the advisers and fupporters of the war, or afferting the general rights of his fellow citizens and of mankind. His Lordfhip has therefore the merit of uniformity; and though he cannot be fet down as an impaffioned, he certainly has invariably the appearance of a paffionate, debater. In his printed letters, however, he is quite a different man: he argues with a coolnefs, a temper, and a gravity, becoming a perfon who is giving to his principals an account of the manner in which he has difcharged the truft repofed in him, and is ftating his claims to a continuance of their favour and confidence. In our judgment, thefe letters will do him credit, and, if the Peers of Scotland ftill cherish a spirit of independence, will infure his re-election as one of their reprefentatives in the next parliament.

The Earl not only avows himself a party man, but maintains that the existence of a party in this country is abfolutely neceffary for the prefervation of the conftitution. The Whigs, he afferts, are, from principle, the true friends of the conftitution; and it is for this reafon that he always has adhered, and promises always to adhere, to them at the fame time recognizing Mr. Fox as their great political leader, and adopting all the opinions entertained by that able statesman respecting the prefent war, and the grounds of our interference in the internal concerns of France*. This, it must be allowed, is a manly declaration and the more fo as it is made at a time when that gentleman and the Whigs are fo greatly out-voted in parliament.

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The statements given by Lord L., relating to public affairs, are in general fair and accurate: but he must not be surprised

* To draw our attention to the revolution in France, ' as it has affected the political interefts of this country,' is one of his Lordship's great objects in this publication. He thinks that we have too much confined our attention to the grand queftion concerning the internal government of France, confidering it as intimately connected with the general interefts of mankind, and the immediate happiness of the univerfe:' as if we had loft the recollection of all national feeling, or, perhaps, as citizens of the world, looking with contempt on the poffeffion of it,'

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