NOVELS. ART. 25. Adonia, a Defultory Story, in Four Volumes; infcribed, by 165. The moft, and perhaps the only, exceptionable part of this publi cation, is its feemingly affected title. The moral is very good, the plo: agreeably contrived and told, the characters well fuftained, and the language and fentiments correct and praifeworthy. It is not often that we can fpeak fo favourably of fuch performances; we are not the lefs forward to do fo, when the opportunity prefents itself. It is the production of a female pen. ART. 26. The Caftle of Eridan, or the entertaining and surprising Hiftory of the valiant Don Alvares and the beautiful Eugenia, Duchefs of Savoy. By G. A. Graglia. 12mo. 35. 6d. Hurft. 1800. Truth obliges us to fay, that we have not often read a more abfurd and ridiculous farrago of ftories, put together in more rhapfodical and prepofterous language. It is an ill-wind, they fay, which blows no good; and the price of paper, it might have been thought, would have prevented or checked fuch publications as the prefent: but, alas! no; there ftill are those who will write, and those who will read, such stuff as the following: "To even sketch a lively picture of this interefting fcene, it would be neceffary to have a pen out of Cupid's wings dipt in the ink of Sappho." MEDICINE. ART. 27. Obfervations upon the Origin of the Malignant Bilious, or Yellow Fever, in Philadelphia, and upon the Means of preventing it; addreffed to the Citizens of Philadelphia. By Benjamin Rufh. 8vo. 28 pp. IS. Dobfon, Philadelphia; Mawman, London. 1800. In our account* of this author's treatife on the Yellow Fever at PhiJadelphia, published in 1794, we concluded with expreffing our concern, that a difference in opinion among the profeffors of medicine in that city, as to the nature, caufe, and mode of treating the fever, had occafioned a fchifm in the College of Phyficians there, which feemed not likely foon to fubfide; we are forry to find, from the opening of this little work, our prediction verified. As the author ftill maintains the opinion, that the fever was originally occafioned by filth accumulated on the beach in the neighbourhood of the city," he anticipates," he fays, "a renewal of the calumnies to which the avowal of it had before expofed him. But this," he adds, 66 will be lefs dif ficult to bear, than the fuppreffion of truths which involve in their confequences the profperity of the city, and the lives of many thoufand people, whom poverty and defpair will finally compel to become the unwilling victims of the fever, fhould it again prevail there." He then proceeds to fhow, that the most destructive fevers take their rife in large and populous towns, and ufually in thofe parts of them that are allotted to the poor; that is, lanes and alleys, that are crowded with inhabitants, and where little attention is paid to cleanliness and ventilation. The general principle from which the author argues is so just, and fo univerfally acknowledged, that we fee no ground for conteft on the fubject; neither can we fuppofe much eloquence wanted to perfuade the Philadelphians to obtain a plentiful fupply of water, to keep their ftreets and fhores clean, to make openings where practicable, to encou rage ventilation, and, in future, not to permit any ftreets, &c. to be built, but of fuch dimenfions as may allow a free circulation of the air, and a paffage for the carts of the scavengers to take away all filth and offals, which fhould be done once at the leaft in every week. Thefe regulations, abfolutely neceffary in hot climates, might be adopted advantageously in all countries. "Let the privies," the author fays, "be emptied frequently, and let them be conftructed in fuch a manner, as to prevent their contents from oozing through the carth, fo as to contaminate the water of the pumps." A Mr. Latrobe has propofed, he fays, to fupply the city with river-water; and he advifes the citizens to adopt the plan, that they may be delivered from the neceffity of ufing pump water for drinking and culinary purposes, to which he attributes, in part, the unhealthinefs of the place. We hope his falutary advice, given with fuch patriotic views, will be followed. and that he may find his fellow citizens ready to remunerate, not calumniate him, for the zeal he here shows for their fervice. DIVINITY. ART. 28. A Sermon, preached in Lambeth Chapel, on Sunday, the 8th of February, 1801, at the Confecration of the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Lord George Murray, D. D. Lord Bishop of St. David's. By the Rev. Charles Blackstone, M. A. Fellow of Winchester College. Published by Command of the Archbishop. 4to. 14 pp. IS. Cadell and Davies. 1801. A clear and manly declaration of the authority on which the feveral orders in our church are founded, as deduced from the practice of the Apoftles, and intimated in their writings. The text is "against an elder (or Prefbyter) receive not an accufation, but before two or three. witnelles," (1 Tim. v, 19) and the deduction, as drawn from this paffage and the context of the Epiftles, is expreffed with uncommon clearness. "The whole charge," fays Mr. Blackstone, "delivered to Timothy, as contained in this Epiftle alone, affords of itself fufficient evidence of the original form of the Chriftian Church, as modelled by the the Apostles themfelves. For example; admonition is given to him to lay hands fuddenly on no man. He was invefted therefore with the abfolute power of ordination; a power exclufively belonging to epifcopacy. He had alfo, as in the text, a power to receive an accufation against an Elder (or Prefbyter*) before witnesses; he had therefore a jurifdiction over fuch Prefbyter, or Priest. And he had inftructions given him in this fame Epiftle refpecting the fobriety of life and converfation to be required in Deacons. Here therefore is at once a portrait of the Church, with the feveral gradations of rank in her refpective officers; Timothy the Bishop, Priefts, and Deacons, in fubordination to him." P. 5. The laft leaf of this difcourfe announces Mr. Blackftone as the author of a tract, very juftly commended by us in its anonymous form, namely, "Serious Confiderations on the Signature of Testimonialst.” ART. 29. The Importance of Religious Establishments, an Essay. By the Rev. Alexander Ranken, One of the Minifters of Glasgow. 8vo. 136 pp. 2s. 6d. Glafgow printed, by David Niven. 1799. Though we are not able to inform our readers how to procure this tract, otherwise than by employing a bookfeller to fend to Glasgow for itt, we cannot feel ourselves juftified in paffing it unnoticed. It contains a fenfible and temperate defence of religious establishments in general; upon principles drawn from the common nature of man, the experience of the world, and the neceffity of religion. It includes am hiftorical view of the practice of different countries in this refpect, and an account of what is now the cafe in various countries, particularly America. As the circumstances of the latter country are fometimes fuppofed to prove establishments and profeffions of faith not neceffary, Mr. R. obferves, very judiciously, that it remains to obferve the want of a full and universal establishment, on the morals and good order of the people. The experiment is not yet of fufficient duration to demonstrate the abfolute neceffity of it; but the probable iffue of it is becoming every year more apparent. Mr. Morfe, the able and judicious author above-mentioned, obferves repeatedly the in creafing evils, in most of the States, arifing from the want of an established Religion. Every intelligent obferver, on returning from America, remarks the fame thing. Their teftimony is corroborated by letters.” He then quotes an account in proof, which he fays may be depended on. "In confequence of the want of a religious eftablishment in America, Infidelity increafes, and the very femblance of Religion decays rapidly. The congregations are the feweft, where the population is greateft, and are not likely to increafe. Many Prefbyterian Minifters have been difmiffed by their congregations, without any * Καλά Πρεσβύτερο. + See Brit. Crit. vol. xvi, p. 205. There are bookfellers in London, particularly connected with Scotland, who would perhaps execute fuch a commiffion more readily than others. For example: Kay, oppofite Somerfet Houfe; Arch, in Gracechurch fireet, &c. complaint complaint either against their life or doctrine." P. 39. This is an alarming fact, and is followed by others of a fimilar kind. Though this tract was drawn up principally with a view to the Scottish church, there is much in it of general ufe to all ellablishments; and particularly fome excellent remarks in favour of creeds and confeffions of faith. We confider the whole Effay as highly beneficial to the real interefts of fociety. ART. 30. Sermons of the late Rev. John Touch, A. M. Minifter of Abertour and Mortlach, Banghire. Revifed by the Rev. P. Touch, late a Chaplais in his Majesty's Navy, and Author of feveral Theologi tal and Political Tra&is. In Three Volumes. Vol. I. Dedicated, by Permiffion, to bis Grace the Duke of Northumberland; and including, in the Preface, Memoirs of the Author, Svo. 251 pp. Scott, 28, Brydges-street. 1800. When the pofthumous publication of difcourfes is intended to alleviate the diftrefs of a family, a confiderate critic will be particularly on his guard left, by a precipitate or harth judgment, he fhould defeat a purpose fo important. The author of thefe difcourfes appears, by the fhort Memoirs prefixed, to have been a pious and exemplary minifter. He had no defign himself of publishing what he had prepared for his flock; they are, however, of a useful kind, and full of fincere piety. The fecond, third, and fourth Sermons, are on the fubject of public devotion, which is defended against all objections, and recommended with great earnestnefs. The fifth and fixth are on a fubject well calculated for general benefit--the exaltation of the human character by means of righteoufnefs. In a word, the impreffion naturally produced by this volume is, that the writer of it well merited the character given of him by his fon; and that his difcourfes well deserved to fee the light, without reference to the motive of expedience which immediately occafioned the publi cation. Being rather largely printed, and not compreffed in the writing to the modern extent, thefe Sermons are only eight in number. The editor promifes two more volumes; but the profecution of that defign will of course depend, in part, upon the fuccefs of the first experi ment, ART. 31. A Funeral Sermon, delivered at the Interment of an exemplary Parish Prift. By Laurence Halloran, D. D. To which is added, an Elegy on the Death of the Right Honorable Lord Andover, reSpectfully inferibed to W. Coke, Efq. M. P. 4to. 42 pp. 25. White, Wisbech; Rivingtons, London. The picture of a very exemplary clergyman, whofe name is fuppreffed, is delineated in the Preface to this Sermon, and in the dif courfe itfelf. We give all due credit to the feelings which occafioned the compofition: but the author has not the power of mind to attain originality on a fubject fo exhaufted; nor has he tafte enough to avoid fuch paragraphs as this: "Could I deign to prostitute my miniftry to the meanness of adulation, it could not foothe the dull cold ear of death, and and furviving virtue would condemn the incenfe! But I difdain to decorate vice or folly with pofthumous applaufe, as much as I feel it a pleafing, though melancholy duty to pronounce, from this facred place, the eulogium of departed virtue, &c." P. 9. This half verfe, half profe ftyle, is little fuited to a difcourfe on such an occafion. The verfes fubjoined, both Latin and English, are very indifferent. ART. 32. On the Obfervance of the Sabbath, a Sermon. By the Rev. L. H. Halloran, D. D. To which is added, à Form of Morning and Evening Service for the Ufe of Schools. 4to. 38 pp. fame Publishers. 1800. Is. 6d. The A very common, and in fome parts rather injudicious, recommendation of the Obfervance of the Sabbath. Meritorious as the design of both thefe Sermons evidently is, the author's friends might have been lefs eager than they were to have them publicly characterized. ART. 33. A Sermon, preached in the Parish Church of Langton juxta Partney, in the County of Lincoln, on Sunday, June 8, 1800, being the First Day appointed for a public Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the providential Protection of the King from the late atrocious Attempt against his facred Perfon. By the Rev. Robert Uvedale, M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Correfponding Member of the Literary and Philofophical Society at Manchefter. 4to. 12 pp. Is. Deighton, Cambridge; Hurft, &c. London. 180c. A very found and fenfible difcourfe on the nature of the duty owed to God, and the honour required to be paid to the fupreme magiftrate, and the influence of religion on the welfare of nations. By an Advertifement at the back of the title, we learn that the author has many works prepared for publication, on the Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, which have been inspected and approved by Profeffor Carlyle. ART. 34. An Essay on the Conduct and Character of St. Peter, confidered as giving Evidence to the Truth of the Chriftian Religion. Publifted in Purfuance of the Will of the late Mr. Norris, as having gained the Annual Prize inftituted by him in the University of Cambridge. By the Rev. Thomas Grimwood Taylor, M. A. Fellow of Trinity Cal lege. 8vo. 40 PP. Is. Deighton, Cambridge; Rivingtons, London. 1799. We heartily concur with this author in the observation with which his Effay commences, that were we to reft the evidence of the Chriftian religion upon the lives and deaths of the firft Apostles, all confirming the particulars of that teftimony which is delivered in their writings, there would be more than enough to fatisfy the fcruples, and eftablish the belief of every rational enquirer." The purpofe of the Effay is to confider the conduct and character with this view, fomething in the manner in which those of St. Paul were confidered by an eminent writer. This task has been fenfibly performed by Mr. Taylor, and in a manner creditable to the inftitution under which he obtained his academical reward. ART. |