French call le fyle coupé: he fritters away ideas into small pieces; and makes fix fentences out of what would have formed one of moderate length, containing an idea of no: enormous fize, Dr. Hunter, on the other hand, collects too much into one fentence, and we are cut of breath before we have got half way to the period. We muft, however, do him the justice to admit that though his fentences be occafionally long, they are not obfcure. But we are of opinion, that, in difcourfes intended for the pulpit, and the intruction of a multitude, the fentences fhould be of a moderate length, and ought not to comprise many ideas. What in this refpect might be allowable, nay commendable, in philosophical writings, becomes improper here. Many who profit by religious difcourfes are not philofophers, but plain unlettered. men; and therefore an author fhould accommodate himself to their capacities.

In thefe lectures we meet with a few words which we do not think natives of England, nor naturalifed fo as to have a right to appear in reputable books; fuch as, tranquillife, venerability, traceable, addictedness, unadvisedness, &c. In the laft century Dr. Barrow, and fome others, coined thousands of new words; but happily they never became current. This employment feems to be again in fashion; as we observe it followed not only by the prefent writer, but likewise by Mr. Burke.

On a review of the whole, we are much pleased with these difcourfes, and warmly recommend them to the public. They are calculated for extenfive utility; and they will form a valuable addition to the libraries of thofe who collect books to perfect them in the principles of religion, and to animate them to the faithful discharge of the various duties of life. They will prove a valuable acquifition to heads of families; for here may be found what will entertain as well as inftruct, what will keep alive the attention, and intereft the heart. Thefe lectures will prove likewife an acceptable prefent to young perfons.

The energy and perfpicuity with which the author's inftructions are conveyed enable him to make a firm and durable impreffion on the mind. And the application of his leffons to the intercourfe of focial life will furnifth ample employment for the understanding. Equally remote from the rhetoric of the fuperficial declaimer, and the profound reflections of the abstracted fpeculatift, he has adorned, with no fmall portion of the charms of eloquence, the fevere injunctions of morality, and the sublime truths of revelation.

t

ART.

ART. V. Lindor and Adelaide; a Moral Tale; in which are exhibited the Effects of the late French Revolution on the Peafantry of France. By the Author of Obfervations on Dr. Price's Revolution Sermon,' 12mo. 3s, 6d. fewed. Stockdale. London, 1791.

ONE would be apt to confider this performance as a faint reflection of the shining fuperficies of Mr. Burke's pamphlet on the fame subject, did not the author affure us pofitively that his work was in the prefs prior to the publication of that celebrated declamation.

While this publication,' fays he, was in the prefs, and most of it printed, Mr. Burke's long-fought-for, long-wished-for, and, after fo much delay, little expected letter, made its appearance in the world.

• The author thinks it right to premise this, left he should be fuppofed to have deformed in the expreffion, and in the copying fome of the fentiments which bear a near refemblance to thofe contained in that manly, impaffioned, interefting, and aftonishing work of human wifdom and human benevolence,'

Little confiding in the weapons of argumentation, he has recourfe, like Mr. Burke, to the brilliant arms of rhetoric, and attempts to excite, on behalf of fallen greatnefs, that principle of commiferation for the diftreffed which nature has fo deeply implanted in our bofom. If the mediocrity of his performance falls greatly fhort of the fublime apoftle of defpotifm, at least his fentiments, as well religious as political, are bigotted, defpotic, and ariftocratic, to a degree which no man can exceed, He is what the French would call an aristocrate enragé..

Mr. Burke has employed the powers of his eloquence to foften and extenuate the mass of mifery under which the French laboured from the extravagance and ambition of their princes, and the feudal oppreffion of their nobleffe; but so far is our author from acknowledging in the leaft the abuses of abfolute power in that country, that, on the contrary, he afferts boldly that the French nation were well governed by their grande monarque, rioted in abundance, and triumphed in fecurity and freedom!

The expence attending the continuance of repeated wars cannot have been trifling, and must be confidered as an evil of great magnitude; yet, during the whole period, we have mentioned, few infances of complaint, either on the head of poverty or oppreffion, are to be found-The great body of the people were maintained in fecurity and ease. The throne and the cottage mutually protected each other; fo far at least the power of the crown produced nothing. but good,' &c.

4

In

In fhort, according to our author, the late general and unani¬ mous infurrection of the French nation against their government was a more act of wantonnefs, a rebellion without a motive! Like a wild afs of the defert, the people (contrary to all the experience of former ages) threw off a burthen that bore light upon their back, and kicked against all the bleffings which, under the mild, the moderate, the parfimonious, the prudent government of their grands monarques, they had long been aceuftomed to enjoy!

Obliged, however, to confefs that fome abuses might exist (for perfection is not the lot of human nature) under the happy government of the grand monarque, he proceeds to examine the grievances imputed to that government, and to refute thofe imputations, in the following manner:

The government of France, it must be admitted, was, what is called abfolute; and I have fhewn that this was required from the fituation and neceffities of the country; I may likewife add, from the nature of the people, and the fpirit of their laws.'- [From the nature of the people, and the fpirit of their laws, at prefent however, one would not be apt to fuppofe that they had any great tendency to abfolute power.]

Having thus eftablished the neceffity of an abfolute government in France, he proceeds to confider the privileges of the nobleffe, their exemption from taxation, &c. and the ufe of lettres de cachet; all of which he proves to have been a source of invaluable bleffings to the ftate! [of courfe too good for any but nobleffe.] With refpect to the prodigality of penfions, that he juftifies by the practice of England: a very useful hint to Englishmen.

Lettres de cachet he regards not only as abfolutely neceflary to the government of France, but as an improvement in politics, which even the English would do well to adopt!

In free countries, as for inftance, in England, regulated as it is by perfect order and well established laws, this power may, perhaps, be unneceffary; yet it is well known, that, till within thefe thirty! years, a fort of qualified practice of this nature had long prevailed there, even against law; and, bad it continued, many confiderable evils that have happened fince, might have been prevented: but whether the fecurity of the individual is preferable there (in England) to the fecurity of the government, or whether both are compatible with each other, is a question for that country to determine. That they were not fo in this country (France), the very doubt in that is fufficient to determine.'-[When did this doubt exist with an honest English

man.]

Even if it should be proved that the malice of a minitter, or the refentment of a miftrefs, has perfecuted the innocent,' &c. [Triffing confideration!]

He

He then produces poor La Tude as a memorable proof that the difcipline of the Baftille was not always mifapplied."

In his youth he, an unknown individual, enters into a correfpondence with the king's mistress, a person almoft known to the law, and certainly of importance to the government.-And a bleffed government furely that must have been, in which the king's mistress was a perfon known to the law, and of importance to the ftate!]

Mr. Burke has fallied forth the knight-errant of royal damfels in distress. He exults, with ferocious joy, in the immurement of that uncourtly lord who had dared to asperse the chafte reputation of the immaculate MARIE ANTONIETTE, Queen of France; but, ftill more gallant than his master, this trufty fquire is ready to break a lance in defence not only of the wives, but even of the harlots, of royalty, and burns with zeal to erect a Bastille for the punishment of those who shall dare to attack the honour of a royal punk!

Amongst the many advantages which our author imagines the late defpotic government of France to have poffeffed over ftates of a freer conftitution, he seems to confider, as not the leaft glorious circumftance, the facility with which abfolute power enabled a royal monster to disturb the repose of Europe, to cry havoc, and let flip the hounds of war among the terrified inhabitants of neighbouring provinces:

As to the effect of the French government on foreign nations, we can confidently affert, that, though it may be imitated, it can never be exceeded; its power kept pace with its firength, and both together held the united efforts of the whole European world at an out-ftretched diftance, not to be bent or approached. terror of their armies has spread fear and admiration over the face of the whole world. . . . The fervices required by war thus moderated, fell to the fhare of the nobles., To them it was an

amufement,' &c.

... The

For this polite and noble amufement of cutting throats, the prefent democratic race of Frenchmen, as our author pathetically laments, appear to have loft all relish. To their depraved taste the victories of Louis the Fourteenth prefent nothing but a continued feries of the moft fhocking butchery; they pursue the remorseless ruffian with merited execration, and have gibbeted his memory high in infamy, as the great murderer of man kind! Such, however, are the fentiments of a people whom Mr. Burke, Calonne, and the reft of the aristocratic faction have endeavoured to exhibit to the world as bloody, ferocious, and eftranged to all the feelings of humanity!

In imitation of Mr. Burke (for the public, we apprehend, will never be prevailed upon to confider our author in any other view

than

than as a copyift of that writer), he has produced against the revolution fome arguments in abfurdum, as he intends them, but which the French are ready to admit as well founded, and which they labour to carry into effect.

Don't interrupt me, Lindor,' faid Madame Leville a little difconcerted; we are all equal, you fee.' No, I don't fee that, faid Lindor; I have no fumptuous houfe, keep no magnificent table, drink no wine, and can fcarcely afford to buy myfelf a dinner; while you have horfes and houses, and, even your equals, men at your command; buy the richeft victuals, melt down what would have satisfied the poor for a meal, into high fauces, and revel in luxuries of every fort. Make thefe things even with us, and then I'll fay fomething to your equality. But mark, I do not object to it; our worthy prieur has taught me better; he has taught me to know that the inequality of fociety fecures what you call the equality of nature; and if it was not for that, there could be no fociety; of courfe neither food, nor fleep, nor employment, nor any thing elfe, in fecurity.

This is a generous way of reafoning for a hungry mortal; but we prefer the modern French method. They think that the fociety in which the greateft equality prevails will always be the moft fecure; and they conceive it to be the bufinefs of a good government to diftribute as equally as poffible thofe bleffings which bounteous Nature offers equally to all. For this purpofe, they have already inflicted on every fpecies of monopoly the most deadly blows. They have abolished, for example, the right of primogeniture, and have ordained that property of every kind fhall defcend in equal divifions to every branch of the family, male and female. By this juft and wife decree they have rendered the accumulation of enormous fortunes, almoft impoffible in France; and have at once diftributed, by ten thou fand fertilifing channels, that affluence which had long been accustomed to loiter in a few deep and lazy ftreams to the dead fea of monopoly. By the abolition of the nobleffe, with their abfurd and oppreffive privileges, they have fet free the hands of induftry; and the fale of the church lands alone will create many millions of happy freeholders in a country where, a few months ago, no man, except the nobles (and even of them a small portion only), could justly lay claim to that independent and enviable appellation. Such are the happy effects which have already followed the French revolution. But the measures which are ftill meditated by that nation will, we hope, more univerfally extend, and more effectually fecure, that real equality in which alone true liberty confifts.

But to return to our author. While he extols the former government of France, he beftows at the fame time the highest encomiums on the conflitution of Great-Britain; and, as if

ranfacking