1 'Argument. • General reflexion-Defcription of a prifon-Confinement for debt, or on fufpicion-Inhumanity of detaining debtors for the goalers fee-A guardian, or the family of a fuicide confined on fufpicion-Injustice of indifcriminate confinement-Defcription of the prifoners-The ruffian-The woman for the murder of her illegitimate infant-The young offender-The epifode of Mifello-The maniac and the idiot-Reflexion thereon-Addrefs to Sir G. O. Paul on his entering a prifon-The goal fever-Treatife on flagrant abuses-Feats of chivalry compared to thofe of real humanity, and the inefficacy of the theory without an exertion of it-Conclufion.' Such are the outlines of the piece; but to fill up the canvass was beyond the powers of the poet: his finishing is dry and meagre; and the effect of the whole falls infinitely below what we had expected from the argument. Art. 30. Billy Brafs; a Political Hudibraftic. 4to. Is. 6d. Sam Houfe's pot-boy gone rhyming mad-Hear him: The cat's-paw of a junto filly, The reft gives Ireland!-patriot thought! But more in future we'll fing truly; Roufe all from Land's end to Bleak Thule.” We recommend the author to the care of his friends. Art. 31. A Dialogue between the Earl of Cd and Mr. Garrick, in the Elyfian Shades. Sóld by Cadell. 4to. is 6d. 1785. We cannot agree with the author, when he fays, in his dedication to Sir J. Reynolds, "Surely, if it (the Dialogue) were to be publifhed, the publication of it fhould not be deferred till I might have leifure to make it more worthy of the refpectable perfon to whom I have taken the liberty of addreffing it, with every fentiment of refpect." It is, on the contrary, our decided opinion, that his refpect both for Sir J. and the public, fhould have induced him to defer the publication till he had endeavoured to render it as worthy as he could of the patronage of the one, and the infpection of the other. Nothing but abfolute want can juftify an oppofite conduct in any writer, however temporary the fubject of his labours may be. The prefent dialogue bears evident marks of being hurried into existence before its time. It is involved, embarraffed, disjointed, abfcure. This laft fault is in many places fo glaring, that you are obliged to read with all the attention you would give to the moft fubtil metaphyfics, and fometimes without being certain that you have difcovered the author's meaning. As a fpecimen we fhall give part of Lord Chefterfield's addrefs to Mr. Garrick, with which the dialogue com mences. Thou quintefcence of pure ethereal fire! I faw 'I faw thee fitting in his laurl'd bower Never on earth, on fome triumphant night, The praise of Dr. Johnfon is the object of the poem. Mr. G. is the panegyrift, while Lord C. endeavours, feebly enough, to raise objections to his moral and literary reputation; till at last, hearing that J. is making his triumphant entry into Elyfium, he retires to the deepest fhades, afhamed through all his "foul," and leaves Mr. G. to receive his old friend. ART. 32. A Sermon preached in Greenwich Church, on Thurfday July 29, 1784; the Day appointed for a general Thankf giving and printed at the Defire of feveral of the most respectable inhabitants of the Place. By the Rev. Andrew Burnaby, D. D. 4to. Is. Payne. 1784. : The idea of this difcourfe is founded in liberal fentiments, and its character, like Tom Brown's epitaph, would have been so so, were it not for the strange affectation of its ftyle; by means of which, perhaps, a more copious vocabulary of fynonimous words might be formed, than the incomparable one annexed to Dilworth's Spelling Book. Let us try: Premifed and laid down antecedently; implicated and concerned; improve and profit; divide and feparate; convivial and delightful; preclude or prohibit; bartering and exchanging; occafions and exigencies; fimilar and analogous; spread and communicate; furmounted and overcome; keep and obferve; effect and accomplish; want and deficiency; loffes and disasters; termination and event.' We know that fome perfons cultivate this kind of expreffion in aid of the callous and hebetated intellects of their rural auditors; but we cannot help regarding it, as the most impotent, as well as uncouth, "Shove for heavy-a-d Christians,” that was ever devifed. Art. 33. Two Sermons preached in the Parish Church of Laycock, Wilts: The former on February 8, 1782; being the Day appointed by Proclamation, for a public Faft: The latter on July 29, 1784; being the Day appointed by Proclamation, for a General Thanksgiving for the Peace. By Edward Popham, D. D. Rector of Chilton-Folliat. and Vicar of Laycock, Wilts. 8vo. 2s. Dodfley. 1784. The real talents of the writer in thefe difcourfes are fo entirely concealed under texts of fcripture, chofen without felection, and tagged together without fymmetry, that we do not chufe to fay any thing refpecting them. And if we were to attempt to strip them of U 3 thefe thefe foreign ornaments, and prefent them to our readers in puris naturalibus, we are afraid they would make no better figure, than Lord Peters's coat did, when it had undergone the operation, that Jack employed for its purification. Art. 34. A Sermon preached at the opening of the General Infirmary at Hull, on Wednesday, the 1t of September, 1784. By the Rev. James Stillingfleet, M. A. Rector of Hotham, Yorkshire. Publifhed by Requeft of the Governors of the Infirmary for the Benefit of the Charity. 4to. Is. Dilly. London. A plain difcour e, fuited to the occafion. Had the author adverted to the following expreffion, it would not have appeared in the fermon. "This is the Voice both of nature and revelation. In the "former indeed, it is now fo obfcured and weakened, that we freqently fee it (the voice) too feeble to be heard through the interpofing clouds of intereft and gratification." Mr. Stillingflect muft know that a Voice is never feen. 66 66 Art. 35. A Sermon preached upon the Occafion of the General Thanksgiving for the late Peace, July 29, 1784. By the Rev. Wm. Keate, M.A. formerly Fellow of King's College, Cambridge," and Rector of Piddle-Hinton, Dorfetfhire. 4to. 1s. Payne. 1784. "I wish not to aggravate the diftrefies of my country, nor to lower us in our own eftimation, or in the opinion of other nations." Mr. Keate might have whifpered all he had upon his mind, without fear of being overheard.-By the way, is it not a little extraordinary, that fo learned a man as the rector of Piddle Hinton, fhould be guilty' of the most flagrant and uncouth breaches of grammar in every page. Art. 36. Three Difcourfes; addreffed to the Congregation at Maze-pond, Southwark, on their public Declaration of having chofen Mr. James Dore their Pailor, March 25, Cambridge printed, fold by C. Dilly. 12mo. 1s. 1784. In this publication we have a full account of the proceedings at Maze-pond, on the reception of Mr. James Dore as paftor of that congregation. The felf-governing principles of the independents are, first of all, enumerated, illustrated and defended, by Mr. Robinfon. Mr. Keene then acquaints the affembly with every flep that had been taken relative to the invitation, and final eftablishment of Mr. Dore; who, in his turn, makes his confeffion of faith in the face of the congregation. Mr. William Dore then addreffes the new-elected minifler on the duties of his office, in a fentible difcourie from Epi. Theff. ch. ii. v. 4. "But as we were allowed of God "to be put in truft with the gofpel, even fo we fpeak, not as pleafing 64 men, but God, which tricth our hearts." And, lafly, Mr, Clark endeavours to imprefs the congregation with a fenfe of the reciprocal duties they owe to their Minister. The expofition and defence of the independent doctrines by Mr. Robinfon, are what pleafe us moft in this publication, though we are far from fubfcribing to the infallibility of his reafoning. But there is a plain and honeft warmth in his manner that muft give pleafure to every liberal and ingenuous mind. From his various fources of tyranny over confcience we fall felect his laft, as a fpecimen of the publication! THE laft pretence to tyrannize is taken from picty, and often from from pretended piety. A man who only pretends to religion, and who is really a hypocrite hath the affurance to build one pretence on another, and to direct a practice, of which he knows nothing but the name, and to which he is a perpetual difgrace. There are others, who in a judgment of charity may be good men (I do not fay wife men) and who make their own religion a continual fource of forrow to their fellow chriftians. Little fouls! they think themfelves privy counfellors of the King of kings, and in his name ftart difficultics, make childish diftinctions, place religion in trifles, and turn the whole practice of piety into a ftrife of words to no profit but to the fubverting of the hearers. No men more zealous than thefe for their own fentiments: but no men fo inimical to the liberty of others, Could fuch people reafon, they would perceive that the fame argu ments which vindicate their own liberty establish that of all man kind: but they either cannot or will not reafon, and always mistakę zeal for justice, heat for right. It is remarkable that Jefus Chrift, the most eminent for piety, difcovered nothing of this bitterness, but was the most gentle and liberal of mankind, the exprefs image of his heavenly Father. How unaccountable! but there is no accounting for fome people! that a man fhould prefume to exercife that fpirit of perfecution after he becomes a good man, to which before he durft not have difcovered the leaft difpofition, for the whole chriflian world would have refifted him, yea God would have faid unto the wicked man, what haft thou to do to declare my flatutes, or that thou shouldeft take my covenant in thy mouth? Is piety then a patent for perfecution, and eminence of faith a ground of dominion? Far from us be a thought fo absurd!' All this is very well, and far unlike the independent doctrines of former times. What a pity that fuch doctrines fhould find a refuge only in the bofom of political impotency! We fay no more, let history tell the rest. Art. 37. A Letter to the Hon. and Right Rev. Shute, Lord Bishop of Sarum, containing fome gentle ftrictures on his Lordship's charge, delivered to the clergy of that diocefe, in the year 1783. From a lay-member of the church of England. Bath, printed by S. Hazard, and fold by feveral booksellers in town and country. Svo. Is. 1784. The Bishop of Sarum, in his charge at his primary vifitation, hadi mentioned methodistical preachers with difapprobation. This letter contains an answer to his Lordfhip equally violent and uncandid. As a fpecimen of the fpirit and manner of thefe "gentle ftrictures," we fhall present our readers with part of the lay-member's anfwer to the Bishop's 5th charge. His Lordfhip fays, "That, in an authoritative tone, they excite groundlefs fears and groundlefs hopes." To this the lay-member replies, 66 As to the "authority," with which thefe clergymen fpeak, it is a recommendation of them to me, as it is one proof at least, that they tread in their mafter's fteps, and imitate his mode of preaching: for, it was remarked of him in the days of his flesh, "that he taught as one having authority, and not as the fcribes." I fuppofe that thefe fcribes, when they mounted the roftrum to read and expound the law, mumbled it over in fuch a low, careless, or drowsy man 66 U 4 ner, mer, that they rather lulled their hearers to fleep, than rouzed them to a fenfe of their duty. But we read "that our Lord opened his mouth, when he taught the multitude," that he might pour forth his words with an energy, becoming the nature and importance of his work. And it is not unlikely, that fome of the grand Sanhedrim might be difpleased with him for his boldness, and reprefent him in fome of their triennial vifits, if fuch vifits were common in Judea, "as teaching the people in an authoritative tone." We pafs by the very candid manner in which the scribes, the grand Sanhedrim, and triennial vifitations are brought forward, and only beg leave to admire the letter-writer's peculiar dexterity in his management of fcriptural quotations. Are methodist teachers accufed of ftepping beyond the modefty of nature in the tone and exaltation of their voice? he replies, that in this, as in every other thing, they imitate their great Exemplar, for "we read," fays he, "that our "Lord opened his mouth, when he taught the multitude;" which being interpreted, means, that he preached just as we methodists do, The Bible, fays a certain popish writer, is a nofe of wax, which men twift and mould into every fhape at their pleasure. Art. 38. A Poem, addreffed to the Armies of the United States of America. By David Humphries, Efq. Colonel in the Service of the United States, and Aid-de-Camp to his Excellency the Commander in Chief. New-Haven. Printed for T. and S. Green, 1784. Paris, reprinted, 1785. And London, for G, Kearfley. 4to. 2S. This Poem, we are informed, was re-printed at Paris under the aufpices of Dr. Franklin. That veteran in politics does nothing in vain; the publication feems intended to fofter American rancour, to flatter the king of France and the Irish, and to injure the character and interefts of Great Britain. That an Aid-de-Camp to the American commander in chief, writing as he says, 66 when the army was in the field," fhould exceed in warmth of expreffion, and overcharge his colouring, is not at all furprizing. But why fhould the ambaffador of the United States at Paris, endeavour by a republication to excite the expiring flame? Why, now the contest is over, why, endeavour to perfuade the world that a war, which the Americans fay commenced with injuftice, was carried on with inhuman barbarity? Till this tranfatlantic accufation, Britain had ever been confidered as a noble and generous foe; but the rhymes of Mr. Humphries have degraded Britons into fierce ruffians, whofe affain hands" "wielded the lurking dagger" against the life of General Washington. Not contented with this, the author alfo accufes us of farving our prifoners to death. 6 Why Britain! rag'd thine infolence and scorn? 3 Ireland |