Art. 39. The Count de Rethel: An historical Novel. Taken from the French. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9 s. bound. Hookham. This novel is sufficiently enriched with variety of incident and sentiment to raise it above the character of infipidity. It is written in an easy style, and, without calling for any vigorous exertions of the understanding, or producing any violent agitations of the heart, may afford an agreeable amusement for a leifure hour. LA W. : Art. 40. The History of the Common Law. By Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England in the Reign of Charles II. The Fourth Edition corrected, with Notes, References, and fome Account of the Life of the Author, by Charles Runnington, Esq; Barritter at Law. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Boards. Cadell. 1779. We have here a new edition of this valuable work, accompanied with many additional references, and a large collection of notes and illustrations. In these Mr. Runnington has availed himself of the labours of our modern writers to a larger extent of quotation than the duty of an annotator demanded, or perhaps admitted. This Gentleman's industry in tranfcribing is greater than his judgment in selecting and applying. We are presented with copious extracts from the works of Judge Blackstone, Mr. Barrington, Dr. Sullivan, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Hume, and others, on points which no man who is moderately versed in English history and jurisprudence, can be fupposed to be at this day unacquainted with. What is fingular enough, the authority of Blackstone is sometimes produced in confirmation of Sir Matthew Hale's doctrine, where Sir Matthew Hale is the very authority to which Blackstone himself refers. This is furely to turn back the stream to its fountain. At this rate the works of these learned authors may be quoted as comments on each other in endless reciprocation. Perhaps, too, the name of Hume appears oftener in these notes than will please a constitutional lawyer. Mr. Hume's writings, when he treats of the early period of English history, however fubtile and elegant, have no claim to veneration when opposed to those of Sir Matthew Hale, and when alleged merely in confirmation of them, they are nugatory in a work of this kind. As a guide, however, to the student on his first entrance on the study of our laws, Mr. Runnington's notes will be found useful and valuable. They will introduce him to an acquaintance with the most liberal of our writers, and give him some idea of the extent of the science, and the variety of objects that call for his attention in it, and they will assist him in his further progress, by pointing out many of the alterations which the practical part of the law has undergone fince Sir Matthew Hale wrote, as well as the revolutions of opinion concerning some general questions which this great man has discussed. Mr. Runnington has annexed an account of Sir Matthew Hale's life, which (though somewhat verbose and affected in its style) cannot be perused too often, as it holds out a perfect model of the judicial character. The principal facts which history has transmitted concerning him are here recorded with fidelity, MILITARY MILITARY. Art. 41. A Treatise on the Art of War; or, Rules for conducting an Army in all the various Operations of regular Campaigns. By John, Count Orourke, Colonel of Horse, Knight of the Royal Order of St. Louis, and Lord Chamberlain to the late King of Poland, &c. 4to. 11. 15. Boards. Dodsley, &c. 1778. A work of this kind, from an officer who has seen fervice, can not fail of being useful, in particular, to those gentlemen of the profeffion who have not received the advantages of experience. Count Orourke had a command in that Ruffian army which took poffeffion of Berlin, in the year 1760; and, in consequence of his good conduct on that memorable occafion [as we learn from the Postscript to this Treatise], he was afterward honoured with the favourable notice and regard of his Prufsian Majesty, and the royal family; in evidence of which, he has here printed certain letters which he received from the King, and from Prince Henry. There is, perhaps, an air of oftentation in all this, which does not seem to accord, very happily, with the title of a paper of four pages, prefixed to the noble Count's performance, iz. A Lift of Subscribers. If any purchaser should object that the size of this book does not bear the usual proportion to the price, they must consider the expence of the copper plates, which are fourteen in number; exhibiting the various positions and movements of an army. Some of the plans, described in these engravings, may possibly be new-but we have not had an opportunity of comparing this production with former treatises on the art of war.- On the whole, however, we doubt not but this work will be serviceable to those who are defirous of making a diftinguished progress in the study of a science which, certainly, is not of a fuperficial nature, nor to be comprehended within a narrow compass. MEDICAL. Art. 42. An Effay on the Cure of Abscesses by Caustic, and on the Treatment of Wounds and Ulcers; with Obfervations on some Improvements in Surgery. Alfo, a new Method of introducing Mercury into the Circulation, for the Cure of the Lues Venerea: With the Remarks of Dr. Hunter and Mr. Cruikshank, Profeffors of Anatomy, in Support of this Practice. By P. Clare, Surgeon. 8vo. 2 s. 6d. Cadell. 1779. This is as odd a farrago as we remember to have met with. The fubject which appears moit confpicuous in the title-page, has hardly three pages allocted to it; and the work is made up of quotations, cafes, and old stories, put together in a strange random manner. The only thing at all new in this miscellany, is the proposal of a new method of impregnating the system with mercury. This is, by rubbing calomel in powder, moistened with faliva, on the inside of the cheek, round the orifice of the salivary duct. The Author fupposes, that this internal friction will produce a more easy and expeditious absorption of the mercurial particles than the common frictions on the furface of the body; and he atserts that experience has confirmed his opinion. A long annexed paper of remarks on this new practice, by Mr. Cruikshank, contains many curious observa tions on the nature of abforption, and is, indeed, by much the most valuable part of the publication. Art. 43. Gulstonian Lectures, read at the College of Physicians, February 15, 16, and 17; by Samuel Musgrave, M. D. Fellow of the College, and of the Royal Society: Containing Ihree Lectures, I. On the Dyspnea. II. On the Pleurify and Peripneumony. III. On the Pulmonary Confumption. 8νο. 2 s. Payne, &c. 1779. The first of these short treatises begins with a general account of the mechanical effects of refpirasion. The Writer criticises a pafssage of Baron Haller's, in which it is afferted, that straining is attended with a greater descent of the diaphragm. On the contrary, he maintains, that in muscular efforts the diaphragm ascends, and diminishes the cavity of the thorax, thereby itopping the course of the blood through the pulmonary vessels. On this principle he accounts for various instances of tempo ary dyspnea; and after making some observations on the several kinds of irregular respiration, he proceeds to illuftrate the nature of the morbid dyspnea. He concludes with laying it down as a principle, that in moit cases where a dyspnea occurs, independent of any caufe externally compreffing the lungs or diaphragm, it then originates from a præternatural enlargement or tumefaction of that substance, in which the pulmonary vessels are bedded.' The second lecture, on the Pleurify and Peripneumony, is chiefly a commentary on, and recommendation of, Sydenham's method of cure in those diseases; every article of which Dr. Musgrave thinks founded on just observation and experience. In particular, he infifts on the importance of that great physician's much neglected precept of taking the patient out of bed every day for a confiderable time during the course of the disease, the advantages of which he confirms by his own experience. In the third lecture, on the Pulmonary Consumption, we find little worthy of notice, except fome remarks on confumptive difeases proceeding from a cold cause, which the Writer supposes directly contrary in their nature to the inflammatory consumption, and requiring a contrary treatment. It was in this species of confumption, he supposes, that the warm medicines recommended by former practitioners were particularly serviceable; and he corroborates their testimony by adducing some instances, from his own experience, of remarkable success attending the exhibition of camphor, joined with nitre, in these cases. To this view of the matter contained in these lectures, we have only to add, that they are written in very pure and correct language; an excellence, the want of which we often lament in modern medical publications. Art. 44. Thesaurus Medicus: Sive Disputationum in Academia Edinenfi, ad rem medicam pertinentium, a Collegio inftituto ad hoc usque Tempus, Delectus, a Gulielmo Smellio, S. P. E. S. babitus. Tom. II. 8vo. 6 s. Boards. Edinburgh, Elliot and Creech; Murray, London. 1779. The contents of this second * volume of Edinburgh Medical Theses • For the first volume, see Review, Oct. 1778, p. 305. are are as follows: De Incubo, Bond. De Lienteria, Scanlan. De Azditu, Fen Sleigh. De Conceptu, Merriman. De Hydrope Anasarca, Langlands. De Ferri Historia Naturali, Præparatis, & Usu Medico, Wright. De Hydrope, D. Monro. De Athmate, Abernethie. De Amaurofi, Rofs. De Humore acido a Cibis orto, & Magnesia Aiba, Black. De Ulcere Uteri, Broughton. 'De Teftibus & de Semine in variis Animalibus, A. Monro. De Morbo Hypochondriaco, Turner. De Mercurio, Owen. De Bile, Ramsay. De Catarrbata, Lander. De Catarrbo, G. Fordyce. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 45. An Oration at the Dedication of Free Mason's Hall in Sunderland, in the County of Durham, July 16, 1778. By Brother W. Hutchinson. 4to. I s. Baldwin. A learned and ingenious display of the antiquity and importance of Free Masonry. Art. 46. The Governess. From the French of Monf. Le Fevre. Translated by E. P. Small 8vo. IS. Dodsley. To those who are interested in the education of children, this little work will be a very valuable present. It teaches the necessity of beginning the business of education from earliest infancy, and of obferving a steady and unremitting discipline. This method is proved to be, not only the most certain, but the mildest also, and the most easy, that can be pursued in forming the minds of children to those habits of virtue which are to conftitute the basis of their future character in life. Art. 47. The Speech of the Earl of Sandwich, in the House of Lords,, May 14, 1779; being the Fourteenth Day of the Sitting of the Committee of Enquiry into the Management of Greenwich Hospital. 4to. I S. Cadell. A masterly refutation of the charges brought by Capt. Baillie against the First Lord of the Admiralty. Art. 48. Thoughts in younger Life on interesting Subjects; or Poems, Letters, and Essays, moral, elegiac, and descriptive. With Memoirs of the Author. By George Wright, Esq; Author of the Rural Christian. Small 8vo. 3s. bound. Buckland. Our Author is his own biographer: and what critic so faftidious as to deny him the privilege of talking about his own dear self, when he can plead the respectable authority of William Lilly the conjuror, and George Whitefield, that " chief of finners"-as he was always proud to call himself, for the purpose of shewing his humility! Mr. George Wright gives us a specimen of this saint-like disposi. tion: for after an enumeration of his good qualities, holy employments, and innocent amusements, he modestly cautions his Readers not to think he is without faults.' No. He hath (as he confeffeth in the dismal cant of fanaticism) his failings, errors, and shortcomings: these afford him ample matter for daily concern, felfabasement, and reformation." The Author might place this book in the catalogue of his short-comings, and find in it ample matter for self-abasement and reformation. But vanity is as deceitful as vice : and your fcribbling finners (especially if they should be addicted to the fin of poetry) are of all others the most hardened against conviction: viction: and because, like the Pharisees, they "think they fee, therefore their fin remaineth." RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL, Art. 49. A Charge, delivered at several Visitations of the Clergy, held at York, and in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, in the Year 1778. By William Cooper, D. D. F. R. S. Archdeacon of York. 4to. Is. Cadell. Dr. Cooper exhorts his reverend brethren with warmth and dignity. and he unfolds to them the duties of their station in a manner equally perfpicuous, forcible and perfuafive. He thus expreffes himself on the influence and necessity of example in the clerical character : • To correct licentiousness, awake the lethargic from their fupineness and folly, shew with good effect the pernicious nature and fad consequences of fin, rescue profligate and notorious finners from their unhappy fituation, pointing out the abfurdity of their proceedings and their danger, the danger of being punished with everlasting de ftruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; to do this with good effect, we, my Reverend Brethren, must be eminent for our virtue, eminent for our learning. It is the remark of a writer*, not more distinguished for the wisdom of his admonitions, than the excellency of his conduct, that " the life of a pious clergyman is visible rhetoric." The expression is just. Such a character is a burning light, looked up to by all with admiration, heard upon every occation with attention, reverence, regard. If our reputation is clear and unfullied, the greatest blessing we can enjoy upon earth, our preaching will have its full force; for example is more instructive than precept, and the words of the exemplary will have weight. A clergyman must consider any piece of preferment given him, not merely as a gift, but as a trust, honorem illum non folum datum fed etiam creditum;" and in order to act his part with the greater credit, he will deny himself every pleasure, even the most innocent, which may in any respect obstruct the laudable discharge of his office. The pious Hooker, when Master of the Temple, laid the foundation of his incomparable work on Ecclesiastical Polity; but he obtained leave to retire from that confpicuous situation, into a "quiet country parsonage, where he had more leisure to pursue his studies, might fee God's bleffings springing out of his mother earth, and eat his own bread in peace and privacy; a place, where, without disturbance, he might meditate his approaching mortality, and that great account, which all flesh muft, at the last great day, give to the God of all spirits." Let us revere the memory of that valuable man, and as many of us as are possessed of benefices in the country, learn, by his example, to make the best use of folitude; converse with learned books, with God, and our own souls; instructing our flocks; vifiting the sick; administering the sacraments; aiding the indigent; convincing the people by a conduct, rational and uniform, that our hope lies beyond the grave, and that it is not in the power of this world to charm our hearts to a forgetfulness of God, our fellow-creatures, and ourselves.' • Hooker. Art. |