profeffion where painful anxiety, and eager folicitude for the welfare of fuffering humanity are among a number of other drawbacks on the enjoyments of life.'

The appellant proceeds. On reviewing the conduct of so valuable a character, you will readily anticipate one inevitable confequence, viz. the leaving his family without any fuitable provifion; this is abfolutely the cafe. A widow, a fon, and a daughter remain victims to Mr. Hunter's generous enthusiasm for his profeffion. His daughter, it is true, is married to a gentleman in affluent circumftances; but this has not been the result of national munificence.'

It is farther obferved that, fhould Mr. H.'s Museum be purchased and transferred to fome other country, it will there be established as a fchool for comparative anatomy, phyfiology, and natural hiftory. And in that cafe, every perfon acquainted with the subject will decidedly affirm, it would foon become the refort of all the medical ftudents both of Europe and America. Perhaps it may grace one of the frozen temples at Petersburg. And shall the hiftorian record, that the modern Goths and Vandals, pillaged modern Rome of its chief ornament, and that the feat of one great branch of fcience was tamely fuffered to pass from England to Ruffia? Forbid it, legiflators of Great Britain.'

Should government anfwer, "If we buy this collection, what shall we do with it?" The author fuggefts that it fhould be kept in the metropolis, because it would be effentially injured by a removal; and that it ought to be established as a fchool for teaching comparative anatomy, phyfiology, and natural hiftory.'-His plan for the endow ment of the inftitution, and the maintenance of three profeffors, appears to be very unexceptionable in point of expence; and the national advantages that might be reasonably expected from fuch an eftablifhment feem highly deferving of public attention.

In conclufion, the appellant exhorts the gentlemen who are here addreffed, on this extraordinary occafion, to appoint a committee of men skilled in science, to examine and report upon this collection, or caufe the catalogue of it to be printed for your individual infpection: afk your learned and liberal minded friends, who are judges of the fubject, and let your conduct be guided by the refult. The author of this appeal is only folicitous that his country be not difgraced through overfight; and this most important branch of science be not difregarded in a nation famed for its generofity, its science, and its judg

ment.'

FAST SERMON S, Feb. 25, 1795

[In the order of their publication.]

Art. 58. The Pacific Temper of the Priesthood. A Sermon on the National Faft, Feb. 25, 1795. By an Orthodox British Proteftant, 8vo. 1s. Johnson.

It does not appear that this difcourfe was delivered from the pulpit; nor would it, perhaps, in these heated times, have been coolly received by every member of any congregation. The author is an advocate for peace; and he appears to have calculated his fermon for the admonition of his brethren * of the priesthood, whose pacific temper (as ge.

We fay this merely on the fuppofition that he is a clergyman.

nerally

nerally manifefted fince the commencement of the prefent war with France,) feems to be ironically complimented in the line which stands at the head of the title-page. The difcourfe contains a very serious and fober exhortation to its hearers, or readers, to maintain peace on earth, and good-will to mankind, without confining it to our own community; and to cultivate the virtues of humanity, on principles truly CHRISTIAN. The writer's exhortations are aptly illuftrated by references to the fcriptures, and by examples drawn from facred hiftory; among which he cites that of King Ahab, who was encouraged by his 400 prophets to go againft Ramoth-Gilead :-in which expedition he perished.

In his concluding paragraph, the author thus fpeaks concerning the clerical order; to whom he acknowleges he has more immediately addressed himself: As they are, he remarks, seldom disposed to pafs over in filence what manifeftly tends to the honour of their profeffion,' fo they have, no doubt, (fays he,) already anticipated the obfervation I was going to make, by recollecting that there was found, even at Ahab's council-board, in Micaiah the fon of Imlah, one virtuous upright prophet, who attached himself to the interefts of humanity.'

Prudent men will not wonder that the author of this difcourfe fhould have with-holden his name, if he reflected on the reward of Micaiah the fon of Imlah.

Art. 59. Before the House of Commons. By the Rev. S. Goodenough, LL. D. F. R. S. Rector of Broughton Pogges, Oxfordfhire. 4to.. 15. Rivingtons, &c.

We do not recollect a discourse of this kind better adapted to the occafion, and to the audience before whom it was delivered. It breathes the genuine fpirit of piety, and it is rational, patriotic, and manly. While the preacher earneftly exhorts us to endeavour to avert the judgments of God, by reforming our lives, our manners, and our morals; while he would have us devoutly pray to Heaven to aid our laudable exertions in defence of the religion, the laws, and the liberties of our country; we meet with nothing of the unchristian language (too frequently heard!) of intolerance and extermination: on the contrary, while we pray for the continuance of our own national profperity, he would have us humbly intercede with Heaven in behalf of our enemies, that it might please God to turn their hearts from the evil of their way to the good of mankind, and the glory of his holy name.'-This is the true CHRISTIAN SPIRIT!

Although an air of primitive plainnefs, and of the evangelical piety "of other times," prevails through this difcourfe, unaffected strokes of eloquence are occafionally interfperfed, which ought not wholly to pass unnoticed here: witnefs the following paffage, which occurs when the preacher is difplaying the dreadful effects of the prevalence of anarchy in France:

We fee with astonishment and serious pity a mighty empire convulfed from its very centre, its fovereign murdered, its religion exiled, all civil order, all venerable establishments, borne down with impious fury. Would you talk of property? it is all confifcated; of the temples? they have been all moft facrilegiously pillaged; of the comforts of focial life? they are all interrupted by the din of ferocious

Bb 2

uproar.

uproar. What can we fay of the bleflings of art and fcience, those heavenly endowments of the mind, the alleviators of worldly care, the grateful fources of human tranquillity? they are all funk in terrors, poverty, and diftraction: no more fenfe of holy joy at the re turn of the accustomed times and choice feasons of communing with God; they are all confounded in that ftrange numeration of days, which is fo new and alarming to the whole church of Chrift; cons trived, doubtless, that the hallowed feventh day, enforced by all legiflators, and obferved by all good men (worshippers of the true God) from the creation of the world until now, might be obliterated, left haply there might remain any thing that is called God, or worship, in

their land.'

Art. 60. Preached at the Tower of London, by the Rev. John Grofe, A. M. F. R. S. Minister of the Tower; Lecturer of St. Olave's, Southwark; and Chaplain to the Right Hon. Countess Dowager of Mexborough. 8vo. 6d. Rivingtons, &c.

What we faid of Mr. Grofe's fermon on the faft, Feb. 28, 1794 may be applied to the prefent difcourfe; which, like the former, is well fuited to the folemnity of the appointment, and to the peculiar circumstances of the times. Text, When thy judgments are in the earth, &c.' Ifaiah, xxvi. 9.

Art. 61. Reafons for Peace, delivered in the UNION CHAPEL, Birmingham. By D. Jones +. 8vo. 1s. Johnfon.

Mr. Jones's difcourfe differs, totally, both in argument and language, from the generality of thofe faft-day fermons in which fo many of our clergy have, within these few years, uniformly " fet up" (as a witty member of a certain great affembly expreffed himself,) the ecclefiaftical war-whoop." The prefent highly-animated preacher totally condemns our conteft with France, as being neither wife nor juft;' he answers every reason that has been affigned in juftification of the war; and he ftrenuously exhorts his countrymen to cultivate, immediately, a proper difpofition for peace;-left, by unfortunately protracting hoftile measures, their confequences, in every view fufficiently dreadful already, should grow worse, and, it may be, irremediably fatal! In a word, PRICE and PRIESTLEY, as earnest disapprovers of those principles which have hurried us into this calamitous difpute, were nothing, compared with Mr. Jones, in fpirit, in language, or in energy of argument. As to confequences to the preacher, he, in the moft manly terms, fets them at defiance. He cautions his audience, however, not to infer that he lightly holds his perfonal fafety, nor the good opinion of others, nor that he would willingly offend against the general notion of the decorum to be at all times obferved in the pulpit. The state of our public affairs,' he adds, cannot be deemed a topic unapt for the occafion which has this day brought us together. I mean to affert, what I conceive

* See Rev. vol. xiii. N. S. p. 475.

+ Mr. Jones, we apprehend, is the author of The Welsh Freeholder's farewell Epistles to the Bishop of St. David's, and other fpirited tracts, in defence of civil and religious freedom.

to

to be the natural right of every man, the avowed and acknowleged right, as well as incumbent duty of a Briton, that of ftating what appears to me useful and important truths, fuch as, if acted up to, would tend to restore to us that fecurity, profperity, and happiness which, of late, have been fo much on the decline.-I appeal to Hea ven for the purity of my intentions, for the ardor of my wishes, to lay before you nought but what is fair, juft, and well-founded.'

Mr. Jones controverts, in his preface, the maxim that Politics fhould be kept out of the pulpit:' he allows it to be generally just, but fays, it does not follow that it fhould extend to fuch occafions as that on which this difcourfe was delivered.'

MOCK SERMON for the Faft.

Art. 62. The Shaver's new Sermon for the Faft-day. Refpectfully inscribed to the reverend and laborious Clergy of the Church of England, by their humble Servant, Pafquin Shaveblock, Efq. Shaver Extraordinary. 8vo. 6d. Parfons. 1795.

This title-page needs little comment. The dulleft reader will inftantly perceive that this barber lathers with irony, and means to fhave off all public faft-days with the razor of ridicule. The war, the adminiftration, the clergy,-all come in for a clofe-trimming; and the operation will be pronounced good-fun at the Goofe and Grid-iron in St. Paul's Church-yard, the Crown in Bow-lane, and the Bear in Bow-ftreet. The text is, "Take unto thee a Barber's razor." Ezek. v. 1.

SINGLE SERMON, Jan. 30.

Art. 63. Preached before the Hon. House of Commons, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, Jan. 30, 1795. By the Rev. Thomas Hay, A. M. Chaplain to the H. of C. 4to. IS. Walter.

When the clergy preach on political occafions by the appointment of our governors, they are not unlike advocates at the bar with their briefs. They have not only a given fubject, but they are expected to treat it in a particular manner. On different preachers this point of honour will operate more or lefs forcibly: but on all it will produce some effect, and will give to their compofitions a fimilar complexion. Hence we can generally anticipate the doctrine inculcated in fermons on the 30th of January; and all the difference between them confifts in the degree of ability which the religious advocate evinces in speaking to his political brief. Mr. Hay's fermon poffeffes that kind of merit which commonly attaches itself to discourses preached on that anniversary. As far as it refpects the occafion, it confifts of that unqualified admiration of Charles, and of that equally unqualified condemnation of his opponents, which as little agree with the truth of history as they fuit the commemoration of the unfortunate monarch in the facred character of a martyr. In paffing from the tragic tales of other times to recent tranfactions, it reprobates certain modern opinions as leading to irreligion and anarchy, and cautions its readers against being carried about (Heb. xiii. 9. the text) with diverse and ftrange doctrines."

Mr. H.'s discourse commences with a juft account of Christianity as propitious to human happiness, and it concludes with the truly

Chriftian

Christian wish that the fatal experience of past times, and the ob fervation of what is now paffing in the world, may "work together for our good." We fay, Amen.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Halhed's compliments to the Editor of the Monthly Review; requests him to infert the following in his next publication: • Mr. Halhed has endeavoured to perufe, without prejudice, every thing that has been written in anfwer to, or rather against his book: and if he had in any of the publications met with a fingle paragraph worthy of an answer, it should have been answered. The felf-fufficient and abufive Dr, Horne of Oxford, has not one word of truth, or argument, or common fenfe, in his whole pamphlet; nor would it have mifbecome a Doctor of Divinity who, by his own pen, confeffes he can neither understand Greek, nor read the Gospel in English-to have endeavoured at least to give his jargon fomething, if poffible, of the Gentleman. That he does not understand Greek, is clear from his doubting whether the Holy Ghoft appeared in shape of a dove, when St. Luke exprefsly fays, collatixw sidei wohl megsgav: and that he cannot read, or has not read, even the first chapter of St. Matthew, must be evident to those who perceive him denying that Christ had Brothers ; and who fhall, at the fame time, have observed that the Evangelist, writing after Chrift's death and refurrection, calls him, in the last verse of his firft chapter, his mother's first born fon, ergo, he must have had a fecond at least. If the old miferable expofition of Daniel's four beafts, which Mr. Halhed knew before he took up his pen about as well as Dr. Horne, can by any reasonable perfon (after mature deliberation) be deemed better than that furnished by Mr. Brothers,-be it fo-opinion is free-but Mr. Halled declines being of the party. And as for the phrase of selling his foul, which seems to have given fuch alarm, and furnished fo much matter for falfe wit, Mr. Halhed now thinks that every man who enters into Parliament with any personal view whatever, and not wholly and exclusively for the fervice of his country, must be deemed bona fide to have fold his foul-let him, be of what party he will; and alfo that every man who joins any party to vote on all occafions for the purpose of promoting or fupporting that party at all events, is perpetually guilty of the fame act of felling his foul. Mr. Halhed denies having ever fold his foul in any other manner than this:-and if any one think or say otherwise, on him be the onus probandi.

Mr. Halhed takes this opportunity of renewing his expreffions of perfect conviction in the prophecies and miffion of Mr. Brothers, and his increasing reliance (founded on hourly experience) on the completion of every one of his predictions.' Pall Mall, March 11, 1795.'

+++ Our intelligent Correfpondent O. P. fears that, from our account of Dr. Priestley's Experiments on the Generation of Air from Water, (fee Rev. for Dec. p. 380,) fome people will farmife that pages 32-5 have efcaped our notice, as they appear to contain complete evidence of the truth of the author's conclufions. It is true that we did not particularly mention the paffage to which O. P. refers,—but not because it escaped our notice; we conceived it to be of small importance, or comprehended under our general remarks. In this, perhaps, we might judge wrong; and to fupply the defect, and, at the fame time, to justify our pofitions, we shall return to the fubject.

After having employed heat alone for the converfion of water into air, Dr. Priestley called in aid the removal of atmospheric preffure. He filled long