racter of the piece, we may pronounce the fentiments to be natural and tender; the verfification, though irregular, to be harmonious; and the language to be correct, chafte, and elegant. As exceptions, we remark two or three obviously faulty paffages. The epithet white in the following couplet conveys no meaning:

'Twas not thy rank, or station-'twas thy grief,
Spread her white arms to offer thee relief."

The concluding fentiment in the following ftanza is a puerile conceit:
To fave her from a threaten'd wound

What hofts have perifh'd on a foreign fhore!

And as their life-blood dyed the reeking ground,.

Tears fwell'd the ruddy tide-to find the combat o'er!'

In the following lines, the fentiment is juft and liberal, but the verfification inelegant. Speaking of the exertions of the French nation for the establishment of freedom, the poet fays,

• Foe to the cruel means-but to the END

BRITANNIA and her BRITONS are a friend.
Oh! never can they wish to quench the facred flame
Of that etherial Pow'r that lighted them to fame:
Forbid it, Heaven! When Temperance
Leagues with fweet Benevolence,

With honeft joy our ALBION fhall embrace
Her Gallic Foes, and own them of a kindred race!'

The following ftanza is throughout pleafing:

Behold th' immeafurable train of Care,

Exil'd, like thee, to our BRITANNIA Come!

She their fure refuge in the last despair,
The child of Sorrow's univerfal home.
Her Peafants with her Princes vie
Who fhall fofteft balms fupply:
These their Palaces bestow

And scepter'd Grief forgets its woe,
Thofe uplift the lowly latch,

And beckon Sorrow to their thatch.

Friend to the Wretched! ALBION's equal eye
Warms, like the Sun, ALL human mifery.'

Art. 64. Odes on Peace and War. Written by many eminent and
diftinguished Perfons: Particularly by W. Whitehead, Dr. R. Hurd,
(now Bishop of Worcester.) C. Anstey, W. Mafon, W. Hayley,
Baron Maleres, Sir James Marriott, Lord George Cavendish,
Rev. Dr. Plumptree, John Law, Vifcount Fitzwilliam, Hon. John
Damer, Lord Mountjoy, Archdeacon Travis, R. Raikes, Earl of
Hardwicke, Dr. Michael Lort, Rev. Henry Zouch, J. Duncombe,
C. Smart, J. Hey, &c. &c. &c. 8vo. PP. 184. 35. fewed.
Debrett. 1795:

Academic exercifes are in many cafes entitled to a better fate than to be configned to oblivion as mere juvenilia. The plant of youthful genius often fends forth vigorous fhoots, the fair promife of future fruit, which ought not to be rafhly torn off and thrown away. Though our departed friend, Scriblerus, has formerly handled his amputating

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knife pretty freely among the unpromifing or the too luxuriant plants which, on certain great occafions, have fuddenly sprung up in the academic groves, yet he found, even among thofe forward productions, many that deferved to outlive the day which gave them birth. Several fuch the reader will perceive, both in Roman and English verfe, in the collection now before us. They are academic exercifes produced at the return of peace, in the years 1748 and 1763. Among the names of the refpective authors which are annexed, are feveral who have fince made a diftinguished figure in the literary or political world, particularly Bishop Hurd, Whitehead, Anstey, Mafon, Hayley, Maferes, Sumner, Lord G. Cavendish, &c. To examine diftinctly the merits of fo many mifcellaneous pieces would be impoflible; to pafs on them all an indifcriminate fentence of general praife, or cenfure, would mean nothing. We must content ourselves with marking as particularly excellent, among the Latin pieces, an Ode to Peace by John Sumner, and another by R. Raikes: among the English, Bishop Hurd's Ode to Peace, Mafon's parody of Milton's Allegro, and verfes in praife of Peace and Freedom, by John Brown. Though many of the pieces are of inferior excellence, the collection, on the whole, does credit to the genius of the authors, and to the tafte of the collector.

MISCELLANEOUS.

E. Art. 65. Letter from the Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL.D. to the Right Rev. John Douglafs, Bishop of Centuria, and Vicar Apoftolic in the London District. 4to. PP-55, 25. Faulder. 1794.

Dr. Geddes feels himself fo fuperior, in literary endowments, to thofe of his Catholic brethren who have attacked him on the score of his new tranflation of the Bible, that he is rather moved to laughter than to wrath by their illiberal cenfures and ex cathedra condemnation. He addreffes his Bishop as a good-natured, condescending, whiftplaying prieft;' (who, with others, had published a paftoral letter, prohibiting the ufe of Dr. G.'s tranflation ;) questions his being moved by the Spirit, which, he reminds him, is a spirit of benignity and fweetness above that of honey; and advifes him to let the cenfuring of books alone. Many things in this letter refer to the difputes of the Catholics among themfelves, which will not intereft the generality of readers but they will be pleated with Dr. G.'s noble and expanded mind, and with his generous and open acknowlegement of the defects of the Catholic ritual. Our external worship, (he fays,) has too ufelefs and even cumbersome trappings; and many of our ceremonies must appear puerile and ridiculous to thofe who are not ftrongly prepoffeffed in their favour.-A liturgy in Latin, too, for a mere English people is, whatever fophifms our controverfialists contrive to defend it, a moft anreasonable thing.-Paying money for dirges is an unfeemly cuftom, and dirges themfelves are totally unnecelary, to fay no more.-Abftaining from certain meats on certain days is a filly piece of devotion which we owe to Afiatic fanaticism. Though now a piece of orthodoxy, it was once a badge of herefy.In our prefent mode of adminiftring fome of the facraments there is much apparent childishness.'

many

Could

Could a proteftant fay much more against popery than this? Well may fuch a writer hope that the partition-wall between Catholics and Proteftants will foon be broken down.

Dr. Geddes infifts on the privilege of laughing at what he thinks ridiculous either in prieft, bishop, or pope :- how far his brethren may approve of his liberal use of it, on the prefent occafion, we prefume not to pronounce :-but it may perhaps afford an opportunity to fome to cenfure him for unbecoming levity, who cannot refute his arguments. Conscious of his ftrength, and of the goodness of his caufe, he dares his enemies to the combat of reafon in the broad face of day, and only protefts against being crushed under the heavy miliftone of Authority. Mo-y.

Art. 66. The prefent State of the Thames confidered, and a comparative View of Canal and River Navigation. By William Vanderftegen, Efq. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Robinfons. 1794.

Mr. V. obferves, in the outfet of this valuable tract, that, having taken a considerable part, as a commiffioner of the Thames navigation, he cannot refrain from laying before the public a narrative of the proceedings of the Commiffioners, in order to fhew the former, the prefent, and the intended state of that river, if the gentlemen who favour canal navigation had not taken very extraordinary methods to put a stop to the intended improvements.' On a due confideration of the subject, and taking into the account all the information contained in this important ftatement,-all the advantages and disadvantages of the Thames and canal navigation, the author has no doubt that all impartial perfons, will (with him) be convinced that the river Thames may, at a very small expence, compared to that of making a canal, be made a navigation by far more beneficial to the public than any canal.' This is really a curious investigation of the fubject..

Art. 67. Inftructive Tales, felected from the Adventurer. For the
Ufe of Young Perfons. 12mo. 8d. Gurney. 1793.
Dr. Hawksworth's talent for writing inftructive tales is fo well
known that, for a recommendation of this fmall compilement, we
need only refer our readers to the price annexed to it in the title, as
above.

From an authentic

pp. 28.

2s. 6d.

Art. 68. The Will of King Henry the Eighth.
Copy, in the Hands of an Attorney. 4to.
Pridden. 1793.
As this will is extant, and may eafily be confulted by thofe who
wish to be acquainted with its contents, in Fuller's Church Hiftory,
and in Rymer's Foedera, the neceflity for this publication does not
appear to have been very urgent. However, it is a proper appendix
to the collection of the wills of kings and queens of England, published
by that indefatigable fearcher into antiquity, Mr. Nichols.
Art. 69. The Elements of Useful Knowledge: Comprehending, amongst
other interefting Particulars, fhort Syftems of Aftronomy, My-
thology, Chronology, and Rhetoric; with a brief Account of the
Trial and Execution of Louis XVI, and of the late Transactions in
France To be read in Turns with such approved Selections as are
REV. JUNE, 1795.
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generally

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generally used in Schools; and to be chiefly committed to Memory. By the Rev. J. Adams, A. M. 12mo. PP. 333. 3s. fewed.

Law.

To compofe good elementary treatifes for young people is a work of more difficulty, as well as more importance, than many compilers feem to apprehend. To fele&t, from the general mafs of knowlege, fuch parts as are properly fundamental, to digeft thefe in a method which fhall facilitate the labours both of the teacher and the learner, and to exprefs them in perfpicuous and accurate language, requires no ordinary degree of judgment and tafte. Though the prefent mifcellany certainly contains many articles of useful and neceffary knowlege, we cannot fay that it comes up to our idea of what is defirable in a work of this kind. Befides the grofs abfurdity of inferting, in a fchool book, fix entire chapters on the last will, trial, and execution of Louis XVI., the affaffination of Pelletier, and the French declaration of war, we obferve many defects and errors in the courfe of the work. On the fubject of aftronomy, which is fo pregnant with information, the author fpends too many pages in general declamation, in which he affords fome curious examples of amplification. Speaking of the power of God as difplayed in the heavens, he exclaims; In what majestic lines is it there written! In what legible characters is it there recorded! In how ftriking a manner is it there difplayed!'

and afterward, With what wonderful rapidity do the heavenly bodies perform their revolutions! how minutely faithful to the vicif fitudes of day and night!' A circumftance, by the way, which could not well happen otherwife; as thefe viciffitudes are owing to the di urnal revolution of the earth. The page which is thrown away on Kircher's and Fontenelle's fancies concerning the different inhabitants of the planets might have been much better employed. The my thological part is, on the whole, tolerably correct: but young people fhould not be taught to believe that the oracle of Delphos became dumb at the birth of Chrift; and that, when Auguftus defired to know the reafon of its filence, the oracle anfwered him that, in Judea, a child was born who was the fon of God, and had com. manded him, (the faid oracle,) to depart, and return no more anfwers.' When will the vile practice of pious lying and impofition ceafe?-The introductory chapters in chronology are useful: but, in the chronological tables, the facts are injudicioufly felected, and dates are given to many events, the time of which is wholly uncertain. What proof can the author bring that the tower of Babel was built much about the year of the world 1757? or, to inftance in a more important event, that Jefus Chrift was born on the 25th of December?

With what degree of judgment the chapters on natural philofophy are felected, the reader will guess, when he is told that the author explains the Aurora Borealis on the exploded hypothesis of nitrous and fulphureous vapours, without mentioning the common explanation of this phænomenon from electricity.

We could eafily have extended thefe ftrictures much farther: but we have faid fufficient to thew the intelligent reader that this work has no great claim to be adopted as an elementary school-book.

Art. 70. Some Account of the Deans of Canterbury; from the new Foundation of that Church by Henry VIII. to the prefent Time. To which is added a Catalogue of the Manufcripts in the Church Library. By Henry John Todd, M. A. Minor Canon of the Church. 8vo. pp. 298. 5s. Boards. Cadell and Davies. There is fomething humorous and fatirical in the lines which Le Neve, the famous antiquary, is faid to have prefixed to his catalogue of dignified ecclefiaftics ;- "Their very names, (faid he,) are buried as deep as their bodies; the one was fcarce fooner out of fight, than the other out of all remembrance." It is the intention of the present writer to render fuch a remark inapplicable to the Deans of Canterbury. A few of the number have been refcued by other means from oblivion, fince four have been admitted into the Biographia Britannica; and among thefe, Tillotson has been copiously delineated by the accurate pen of the late Dr. Birch. The whole lift amounts to twenty-three; viz. Wotton, Godwin, Rogers, Nevil, Fotherby, Boys, Bargrave, Eglionby, Turner, Tillotson, Sharp, Hooper, Stanhope, Sydall, Lynch, Friend, Potter, North, Moore, Cornwallis, Horne, Buller, Cornewall.-The firft was a mere politician, with large preferments, engaged in high ftate affairs; a man certainly able, and by what we can learn refpectable alfo, fo far as ecclefiaftical offices can be reconciled with the bufinefs and intrigues of courts and cabinets.-Moft readers will here obferve fome names which they remember with respect. Tillotson, it is generally allowed, holds the first rank: yet, in our opinion, there is another, more confined indeed to the immediate duties of his office, who equals in real worth any in the catalogue; we mean Dean Stanhope, who was confpicuous for piety and benevolence, by the labours of his life, and ftill more fo by his writings. He, as had been the cafe with Tillotson, found himself rejected, when nominated prolocutor to the convocation of the clergy: but he appears to have applied himself, as far as he was able, to correct and moderate the temper and the meafures of the ignorant, the bigotted, and the crafty.

Mr. Todd has drawn up thefe memoirs with attention, and with every appearance of fidelity:-but, when the tumultuous and calamitous times of the last century present themfelves, he indulges in expreffions of rather more acrimony and contempt than we might have expected; and he seems to lose fight of the old remark as to what might be done if lions were painters.

The catalogue of manufcripts, which finishes the book, contains fome articles of a very curious kind; chiefly as manifefting the knowlege or the ignorance of former times: once or twice, we obferve the refpected name of Grofthead, bishop of Lincoln, a man who earnestly laboured for the promotion of true science and national improvement, in an age of fuperftition, nonfenfe, and oppreffion.

We have, on the whole, perufed this volume with pleasure, as it affords a retrofpect of our national history; and while it more particularly defcribes the characters immediately intended, recalls to our attention fome almoft forgotten anecdotes refpecting them, their conpections, and the general current of the times.

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