wiser as we grow older, it is well.-At all events, and in all times, Mr. Y.'s abilities, under proper directions, may be rendered useful to his country, and creditable to himself, MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 47. An Appeal to the impartial Inhabitants of the Parish of Chelsea, respecting the Conduct of a Set of Men calling themselves the COMMITTEE of an Association of the Inhabitants of the said Parish to serve in Arms, &c. By Thomas Morrison. 8vo. Is. Debrett. 1798. This appellant complains, in the language of strong resentment, against the conduct of the above mentioned Committee, on account of the unfair and unhandsome manner in which, as he conceives, his offer of joining his neighbours in the defence of his country has been rejected. He highly disapproves the method adopted by that Committee, of choosing the members of their parochial association by ballot; and he states a number of circumstances in support of that disapprobation.-On the whole, as far as we can judge from a hearing of only one party in the cause, it seems that the present complainant has very sufficient reason for his warm disapprobation of the proceedings of the Committee, with respect to their mode of refusing his patriotic offer of becoming a member of the Chelsea Association. Art. 48. Anecdotes and Characteristic Traits respecting the Incursion of the French Republicans into Franconia, in the Year 1796. By an Eye-witness. Translated from the German. 12mo. Is. 6d. Bell. 1798. At a time when a French invasion of this country has been expected, for not a few months past, it seemed very expedient to pubfish such accounts as were authentic, of the good faith and behaviour of those invaders in countries in which their incursions met with astonishing success, particularly in Germany; and where the French Generals proclaimed, at their entrance, every protection to the unresisting inhabitants, both as to person and property:-it appears, however, that those who trusted to these specious promises had, very soon, the strongest reason for repenting of their credulity; being most treacherously and basely subjected to every kind of profligacy and cruelty. A German publication, containing details of the perfidy and rapa. city of the French troops, when they overran Swabia in 1796, was lately translated by Mr. Aufrère; who very properly entitled his per formance "A Warning to Britons," &c. That pamphlet was noticed in our Review for April, 1798, p. 467.-The present collection of anecdotes is a work of a similar kind. It exhibits a view of the like atrocities, perpetrated in the same year, by Jourdain's army; and what we remarked concerning Mr. Aufrère's pamphlet will apply so directly to the publication now before us, that to enlarge on its horrid contents seems totally unnecessary, as well as unplea sant. We should not, however, omit to observe that the author of the present tract deals very candidly with regard to those of the French officers Work. officers whom he names; and who, as far as their authority could prevail over the licentiousness of their soldiers, frequently interposed in behalf of the unfortunate Franconians, and happily saved many of them from destruction, in the very moment of the most extreme distress and danger. 6d. Richardson. THANKSGIVING SERMON, Dec. 19, 1797. This sermon, though not distinguished by any great strength of argument or bright effusions of eloquence, is evidently dictated by a loyal and patriotic spirit, and is with due propriety adapted to the occasion. FAST SERMON. Smyth Bant Art. 51. A View of the Nature and Design of Public Fasts; occasioned by Peter Pindar's Satire on Fasts.-Preached at Ash, March 7, 1798. With Additions. By N. Nishett, A. M. 8vo. 1s. Margate, printed by Warren; sold by Rivingtons, London. The most remarkable feature of this discourse is its being, as we conceive, chiefly intended as a defence of the religious institution of publie Fasts, in answer to those who do not hold such ordinances in the same reverence which many good pious Christians do.-The preacher has an eye, in particular, to the levities of Peter Pindar, whose ridicule of these solemn appointments we noticed in M. R. vol. xxii. New Series, p. 315. There is something of singular appearance in Mr. Nisbett's choosing the sarcastic lines of Peter Pindar (quoted by us, as above) for a motto to the present sermon. looks as if the Rev. author was rather diverted by Peter, than angry with him. SINGLE SERMONS. It Art. 52. Unanimity and Exertion at the present Functure recommended. Preached before the Inhabitants of Richmond, Surrey, April 29, 1798. By the Rev. T. C. L. Young, A. M. Curate and Afternoon Lecturer of that Parish. 4to. IS. Brentford, printed by Norbury. Political sermons, in general, are not suited to the pulpit: but, at a crisis like the present, the loyal and patriotic clergyman may be more than excused, if, impressed with a wish of doing his part towards the national defence, he exhorts his flock to unanimity and exertion. Yielding to the impulse of his heart, Mr. Young has here nicatly and concisely delivered his political sentiments; which are in perfect unison, we believe, with those of the great majority of the nation G nation. They were so acceptable to the inhabitants of Richmond, Art. 53. National Liberality and National Reform recommended. 1 S. This is a short and well-written discourse from the common passage, "render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." The Doctor gives a brief but clear and judicious account of the occasion on which, and the persons to whom, this reply was made.-Few will dispute his assertion, that a close observance of the precepts delivered in the Gospel tends equally to make us faithful servants of God, and valuable members of society:' Nor will it be doubted, by a rational man, that he should, according to his ability, contribute his share to the equitable and reasonable expence of that government whence he derives security and comfort.-Dr. Glasse is concise on the first part of the text, considering a larger discussion as fitter for any other place than the pulpit, and proceeds more fully to recommend to his hearers, a conscientious endeavour to render unto God the things that are God's, and to contribute to the utmost in their power to the permanent es tablishment of the general welfare an object, certainly, which all should keep in view, by reformation wherever they have erred, and by the more steady cultivation and practice of religion and virtue. The title-page modestly says, the profits (if any) to be applied to the voluntary contributions.' Art. 54. The Excellency of the Liturgy, and the Advantage of being educated in the Doctrine and Principles of the Church of England. Preached in Bow Church, London. April 25, 1797. Accord ing to the last Will of Mr. John Hutchins, Citizen and Goldsmith By the Rev. W. Van Mildert, M. A. Rector. 4to. Is. Dilly. When we consider the number of bequests made by pious persons for explaining the excellencies of our liturgy, we are inclined to wonder how it happens that a heretic or a schismatic is left in the Country: yet we are here assured by Mr. Van Mildert, that it makes him melancholy to think that heresies, schisms, and sects, abound so much as they do. He says, they impugn the doctrines of the church, call its authority in question, set at nought its discipline, and form objections which strike so deeply at the root of our venerable esta ishment, that they cannot with safety even be taken into consider ation. To remove them would be to destroy the church itself. Is Mr. Van Mildert quite sure that this remark may not have some tendency to strike even at the root of the pious bequest of Mr. John Hutchins, citizen and goldsmith? 2 CORRE Moo-y. Hi. Tooke. CORRESPONDENCE. We have received from the Abbé Barruel a long letter, in which he complains of us for finding fault with his mode of translating the German language (see vol. xxv. p. 505). Two passages have there been indicated, the original text of which is to be found quoted in the Abbe Barruel's book; and we assert anew that they are both mis translated. On this the readers of the German tongue must pro nounce. The Abbé Barruel presses on our notice various passages from the Originalschriften it was never our intention to intimate that he had not read them. These extracts have not had the effect of reversing our original impression, that however extravagant may be the opinions of some leading men among the illuminés, the average will of the party, the collective pursuit of the confederated fodges, appears rather to have had socinianism and republicanism than atheism and anarchy for its object. The Abbé also threatens to denounce us as illuminated: he is at full liberty to accuse or compliment us by such a description, In reference to our remark on the impropriety of the term whetstone in poetry, in the account of Mr. Cheetham's poems, (see Rev. May, p. 94,) a Correspondent-probably Mr. C. himself-reminds us that it has the sanction of Horace. See Carm. lib. ii. Ode viii. 15. Allowing, however, that the Latin word cos precisely assimilates to our idea of whetstone, it is obvious that words in all languages are in debted for their dignity or degradation to associations of ideas, which, though we all feel them, few can explain; and which, in many cases, perhaps, may be traced to prejudice and caprice. As a matter of taste, we retain the opinion that the word whetstone is too familiar, not to say too vulgar, for lyric poetry; and if Mr. Cheetham chooses to repose on the authority of Horace, his argument may prove too much for, if the Greek and Roman poets are to be copied literally and servilely, what should we say to a translator of Homer, who should express in English the idea which the words vor are generally supposed to convey? (See Iliad, lib. xxi. 481.) Yet Aristotle, and all sound critics, have formed their rules of judg ing of poetry from Homer's works. In a point of taste, which is so arbitrary, it is possible that we may dispute the authority of Homer, or of Horace, or of any antient, particularly in an exact transfusion of their idea or expression into our own language. A second letter signed J. B- -n, brings evidence which seems to prove that the author of the "Panopticon," mentioned in our Review for April last, p. 392. was not General Bentham, but the General's brother Mr. Jeremy Bentham of Lincoln's Inn, author of the Defence of Usury, and other ingenious works. We cannot decide this matter: but, from our Correspondent's letter, it appears prebable that his opinion is well founded. In the last Appendix, p. 496. 1. 7. for in such, r. on such; and 1. 35. for in which,' r. on which. In the Review for May, p. 29. 1. 5. for which is elegant;-less lively,' r. which is less elegant and lively 1. 192. l. 9. for Prussians, r. Persians. Tay. Ban 1.96. l. 10 fr.bott. take the comma from society, & put it after hardship. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For JULY, 1798. ART. 1. Memoirs of the House of Medici, from its Origin to the Death of Francesco, the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, and of the great Men who flourished in Tuscany within that Period. From the French of Mr. Tenhove, with Notes and Observations, by Sir Richard Clayton, Bart. 4to. 2 Vols. 21. 2s. Boards. Robinsons. 1797. IT was well observed by Hume, in his exquisitely argued but not unexceptionable disquisition On the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences, that, although the persons who cultivate letters with such astonishing success as to attract the admiration of posterity are always few, in all nations and all ages, it is impossible that a share of the same spirit and genius shall not have been antecedently diffused throughout the people among whom they arise. It is, therefore, to those general causes which predispose large numbers of men to pursue accomplishments of mind, and not to the taste of a magnificent indivi dual who selects for patronage men who are already eminent, that we ought to ascribe each of those brilliant periods in the history of human culture,-ill distinguished by the name of an Augustan age,-in which every variety of genius bursts into contemporary efflorescence. The security, the opulence, the leisure, the civilization, of the Greek and Jew merchants of Alexandria, contributed much more than the patronage of the Ptolemies to collect at the mouth of the Nile the poets, the philosophers, and the artists, who under them illustrated Egypt. To the general ardour for classical literature which Malpaghino and Chrysoloras had diffused among the gentle men of Italy, and to the mass of opulent leisure assembled at Florence and at Rome, rather than to the taste and accomplishments of Lorenzo dei Medici and his son, the modern world is in reality indebted for the plenteous growth of merit which has rendered famous the pontificate of Leo X. The dynasty of the Ptolemies and of the Medici had indeed the fortune of governing in the chosen seat of science, during the acme of culture and VOL. XXVI. improve S |