early days, look only at those things which are presented to them; who, in their youth, pursue the pleasures of the senses more ardently than those of the mind; and, when arrived at manhood, are too much engrossed with care to study the simplest points of theology, may live on to gray hairs, inattentive and insensible to that which most concerns them in the religious practices which they have attended all their lives. This is the case every day, even in countries where Christianity is the prevailing religion. The clergymen, therefore, of our venerable establishment, who are more intent to edify their hearers than to obtain the emoluments of their office, who would be infinitely more gratified by the salvation of the meanest parishioner than by the fame of Aristotelian acuteness or Demosthenian eloquence, often find it necessary to turn the attention of their flock to what every one who has read the New Testament might be supposed to understand; and to inculcate first principles, rather than rear the superstructure of Christian doctrine and morals. In this laudable employment, the author of the discourses now before us has been engaged; and he has executed the task in a manner, that does credit to his principles and tadents. For if he has little pretensions to originality on topics so trite, he has at least the merit of faithfully delivering the doctrine of the church of which he is a minister; and if his method be not so lucid, nor his style so simple, as the subjects seemed to require, yet he can hardly be misunderstood by the most illiterate; and he discovers a concern, an affection; and an earnestness, worthy of a man who has the cure of souls. By these discourses, not only may the utterly ignorant obtain a just notion of the ceremonies of the church, and consequently of the religion of Christ, and the unthinking be induced to pause and consider whether they be worthy of the name and intitled to the privileges of Christians; but they who have acquired some portion of religious knowledge, may be furnished with more accurate and enlarged views; they who have suffered their alfections to cool, may be revived; and even veterans in the service of God may be improved, with the recollection of what they have already known. As a fair sample, we select the following extract. It is from the sermon on the design of the Lord's Supper.

In the progress of this discourse, our attention is naturally drawn to the great doctrine of the Atonement: and I will here once more advert to it. Hardly any doctrine, I must confess, appears to me to stand upon firmer grounds of scriptural authority: none to be more uniformly interwoven with the whole system of revealed truth; nor any to be suited to raise in the mind more devout sentiments of reverence and holy awe, of admiration, gratitude, and humble confidence towards God. I know the numberless objections which are urged against it; the scorn and virulence with which it is often treated. But these objections appear to me to be completely irrelevant. They apply only to a distortion and misrepresentation of the doctrine. Only let the Atonement of Christ be considered in its true light, not as first disposing the Eternal Father to shew mercy to us, but as, what it is in fact, the great fruit of his love and compassion for us, and only designed (as far as we are acquainted with its design) to shew his hatred of sin, and to assert the honour of his law and government, while he should exercise unbounded mercy towards a world of sinnersdesigned to render the exercise of mercy consistent with the display of justice; only let the doctrine be thus considered, and every notion of its presenting an unamiable view of the diving character must vanish from the

rightly disposed mind, the mind to which the honour of the divine perfec tions is dear as it ought to be, and to which sin appears in its true colours, deserving every stigma that can be fixed upon it Only, again, let the blessed Redeemer be considered as “ suffering for our sins" in such a sense, as to open the way for the pardon of every penitent sinner, consistently with the honour of the divine character,—not in such a sense as to rescue an impenitent transgressor from the just penalty of his offences;→ and all idea of men being, by this means, emboldened to continue in sin, must in like manner vanish, or rather give way to the conviction, that, whilst this doctrine holds forth the most inviting encouragement to sinners to forsake their evil ways, and live, it displays more awfully than even the torments of hell itself, the intrinsic evil of sin, and the vengeance which Almighty God will take of every impenitent sinner' p. 102. Art. XIV. Perlege si vis. A Letter to the Right Reverend Spencer, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, in Answer to an Appeal made to the "Society for defending the Civil Rights of the Dissenters,” relative to the important Question of Church Burial by the established Clergy; &c. &c. &c. By John Wight Wickes, M. A Rector of Wardley cum Belton, Rutland, and Chaplain to H. R. H. the Duke of Cum berland. 8vo. pp. 50. price 2s. Stamford, Drakard; Rivingtons. 1809. Art. XV. Accipe si vis. A Letter to the Right Reverend Spencer, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, in Answer to the Opinion of Sir Wm. Scott, Knt. as to the legality, or illegality, of refusing Church Burial to Dissenters, together with the Opinion, and Case upon which it was taken, &c. &c. &c. By John Wight Wickes, M. A. &c. 8vo. PP. 44. price 2s. Stamford, Drakard; Rivingtons. 1809.

WE are sorry to say the Rector of Wardley cum Belton appears in

these publications to very little advantage. His spirit is unworthy of a Christian minister, his style of a scholar, and his manner of a gen tleman. His refusal to bury a child baptized according to the usages of the Dissenters, appears to have been dictated by an oppressive, intolerant disposition; and, if the deliberate opinion of such a person as Sir William Scott can be allowed any weight in opposition to that of such a persen as Mr. Wickes, was contrary to law. The fawning compliments to his respectable diocesan are truly in character. As for the illiberal and malicious insinuations, tending to vilify the dissenters, and excite the spirit of persecution by chimerical alarms, they are unworthy of notice, unless they appear in a more dignified shape.

Art. XVI. The Iliad of Homer translated into English Blank Verse. By the Rev. James Morrice, A. M. late Student of Christ Church, Oxford, Rector of Betshanger in the County of Kent, and Vicar of Flower, Northamptonshire. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 326. 343. Price 11. Is. White. 1809.

THIS is one of the books which a reviewer may venture to criticise without reading. He will form a just opinion of it from the titlepage, which a perusal of the whole can only serve to confirm. For our part, we will acknowledge our judgement of it was completely made up without even seeing the covers. The very advertisement of the publica tion, led us to think Mr Morrice a man of singularly perverse taste, his undertaking wonderfully absurd, and his performance incomparably useless. An attempt to manufacture a new translation of Homer in blank

verse, must imply an opinion that Cowper's is not sufficiently faithful or else that it is possible for a version, equally just to the letter of the original, to be more poetical and more true to the spirit. To confute such notions would only be trifling with our readers. We can assure them, however, that though we have not wasted our time in wading through both these volumes, yet we have read enough to perceive, that in fact the general accuracy is not greater than that of Cowper, that the versification is spiritless and unmusical, the diction awkward and prosaic. A short specimen will undoubtedly satisfy the few, who have so little faith in our infallibility as to desire an opportunity of judging for themselves.

He spake: but Juno, greatly fearing, sat

Silent, though ang red, and repress'd her grief;
Whilst indignation seiz'd the host of heav'n;
When Vulcan, architect divine, address'd

Th' offended gods, and sooth'd his mother's mind:
"O dire disgrace! nor well to be endur'd, -
"That you for man such fierce contention move,
"And in immortal breasts such tumult raise !
"Where then the pleasure of our festive board,
"If evil thus prevail? Let me persuade
"My mother, of herself intelligent,

That she due rev'rence to our father yield,
"As meet; nor thus disturb our genial feast,
"Contentious; lest the potent Thunderer
"Heap undistinguish'd ruin on our heads:

"With accents mild, with soft and soothing words
"Disarm his wrath, and deprecate his ire."

He spake, and rising, to his mother brought

The goblet crown'd with wine, and thus began :'-p. 25.

Art. XVII. A Sermon, preached in the Tron Church, Edinburgh, 30th April, 1809, being the Sunday immediately following the Funeral of the Rev. Andrew Hunter, D. D. one of the Ministers of the Tron Church, and Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh; by Sir H. Moncreiff Wellwood, Bart. D. D. 8vo. pp. 29. Price 1s. 6d. White, Edinburgh; Hamilton. 1809.

THOUGH this discourse is distinguished neither by depth of thought

nor energy of style, it is very grateful to us in such an age as the present, when writers of all descriptions seem to unite their efforts to deprive Christianity of its peculiar discoveries, reduce its pure and exalted precepts to the level of worldly prudence, and represent those who are actuated by its genuine spirit as at once fanatics and hypocrites. For both the deceased and the officiating minister appear to have acquired feelings from the gospel, which philosophy could never produce. From Acts ii. 23, 24. the preacher directs the thoughts of his hearers "to the exhortation which Barnabas addressed to the people of Antioch, and the effects which accompanied it, and then to the qualifications he possessed for the service entrusted to him." Having pointed out, at some length, the regard which the preachers of Christianity should pay in all their discourses to the exhortation of Barnabas, he makes the following remarks, which we give as a specimen of his manner.

VOL. V.

3 M

Many other most important truths, leading to the same end, it is certainly our duty to illustrate and enforce; truths relating to the present effects of sin and duty, to the motives to religion, of which even worldly men ought to feel the force, or to such general views of the obligations of religion, as the human understanding ought to receive, or cannot reasonably question. These truths in their own place, in subordination to the word of life, and in connection with it, ought to be most earnestly, and may be most successfully inculcated. But he who does no more than represent these truths, or who only represents such truths as these; he who does not labour, in the sincerity of his heart, to rouse sinful men by the gospel, to "fly from the wrath to come;" and who does not make it his first concern to direct their thoughts to Christ, "the wisdom and power of God to salvation ;" and to persuade them" to cleave to him;" be his dissertations on other subjects ever so perfect, he does nothing in the service of the gospel or vital christianity; nothing, to which the promise of efficacy is made by the Son of God, nothing, which he has any reason from the New Testament to believe will be successful, in the conversion or salvation of men.' pp. 10, 11.

Art. XVIII. A System of Commercial Arithmetic, upon a new and improved Plan. By W. Tate, formerly of the Mercantile Academy, Little Tower-street. 12mo. pp. xii. 240. Price 3s. 6d. boards. Tipper. 1809.

WE really wish Mr. Tate had not published this System of Arithmetic; for we cannot commend it with a safe conscience, and to waste much of our time in censuring it, would be as ridiculous as to employ a steam-engine to break an egg-shell. The plan is certainly new, but we dare not call it improved, because we have not yet learnt that improving a system and rendering it worse are synonymous expressions. Our readers may guess what precision pervades this work, by being told the heads of Mr. Tate's grand divisions: these are, Simple Arithmetic, Compound Arithmetic, Fractional Arithmetic, Fractional Numbers, Fractional Quantities, Decimal Numbers, Decimal Quantities, Comparative Arithmetic, Commercial Arithmetic. Should we be asked under which of these heads the rules of Duodecimals, Loss and Gain, Compound Interest, Square and Cube Roots, Alligations, Position, Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression, are to be classed; in truth we cannot tell. None of these rules enter Mr. Tate's improved system. Instead of this, however, he favours us with new names; thus he calls the Rules of Practice, Elements of Practice,' Fellowship he calls Partnership', and Equation of Payments Averages." These averages, too, that our author may preserve his claim to novelty, he computes erroneously: he also calculates discounts erroneously, and gives no rules to work the examples of Fellowship with Time. Mr. Tate would shine in definitions, if definitions could be luminously stated without thought and reflection; as it is, he is not very successful. He has discovered, however, that ratios are multipliers' (p. 82.), that proportion is an assemblage of ratios' (p. 89.), that cyphers or noughts denote the absence of any figure,' that a class of figures contains two divisions' (p. 2.); with many other matters equally interesting, correct, and extraordinary. Farther, he takes especial care, like some other cele

*

brated authors in this department of science, to give inaccurate definitions of Multiplication and Division. But we cannot dwell longer upon such a work; its dulness, its blunders, and its pedantry depress our spirits; and unfortunately we find nothing sufficiently ludicrous to make either us or our readers laugh.

Art. XIX. William Tell; or Swisserland Delivered. By the Chevalier de Florian, Member of the Royal Academies of Paris, Madrid, Florence, &c. A Posthumous Work. To which is prefixed the Life of the Author, by Jauffret. Translated from the French by William B. Hewetson. 12mo. pp. 115. price 5s. Sherwood and Co. 1809.

IT would not be very easy to ascertain the authenticity of this tale from internal evidence. It has a smaller proportion of Florian's peculiar excellences and a larger of his faults, than any of his acknowledged productions. The translation, however faithful it may be, is far from elegant. The tendency of the story is, to say the least, unexceptionable,

en

The memoir, by Jauffret, gives a slight sketch of Florian's life and character. He was born in 1755, was much noticed in early life by Voltaire, for the mingled gentleness and gaiety of his manners tered the army, and in a short time retired from the service on half pay. It was then he commenced man of letters, and published the popular tales, Galatea and Estelle, by which he is chiedy known. He was imprisoned by the Terrorists; and died soon after his release, in consequence of the injury his health or his spirits had suffered from unjust confinement. He seems to have been free from gross vices, and eminently qualified, by a lively imagination and tender sensibility, to embellish and enjoy social intercourse. We are told he left another tale in MS. founded on Jewish history, and intitled Eliezer and Naphthali, which has since been published at Paris.

Art. XX. The Nature of the Christian Church, and the Necessity of continuing in Communion with it plainly stated, in a Sermon preached before the Lord Bishop of St. David's, at the Consecration of a new Church at Wall's-end, in the County of Northumberland, on Thursday, April 27th, 1809, and published in Obedience to his Lordship's Command, By Henry Phillpotts, M. A. Rector of Gateshead, and Vicar of Bishop-Middleton, in the County of Durham, and Domestic Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Durham. 12mo. pp. 22. Price 6d. Newcastle, Akenhead; Rivingtons. 1809.

THE following discourse," says the author, "aspires not to any praise of originality in the sentiments which it contains, or in the manner of enforcing them ;" and our readers, we trust, will be satisfied, if we inform them that it makes equally feeble aspirations to precision of thought, accuracy of method, and force of reasoning. We are persuaded Mr. P.'s modesty never was more completely at a loss, than in determining whether he ought to disobey his dignified and approving hearer by keeping it in MS. or affront the public by committing it to the press. *Vide Ecl. Rev. Vol. V. • P. 89.