upftart planter to his eftate at a call, which faves the gentleman fo many negroes, and for which they receive, in return, nothing-many times not fo much as a mouthful of meat and drink; palliating hunger and thirft by begging from the flaves a few bananas or plantains; eating oranges, and drinking water, which, in a little time, relieves them from every complaint, by flipping them off to eternity. In every part of the colony they are no better treated, but, like horses, they muft (having unloaded the veffels) drag the commodities to the dif tant ftore-houses, being bathed in fweat, and bullied with bad language, fometimes with blows; while a few negroes are ordered to attend, but not to work, by the direction of their matters, which many would willingly do to relieve the drooping failors, to whom this ufage must be exceedingly disheartening and galling. The planters even employ thofe men to, paint their houfes, clean their fafh-windows, and do numberlets other menial offices, for which a feaman was never intended. All this is done. to fave the work of their negroes; while by this ufage thousands are swept to the grave, who, in the line of their profeffion alone, might have lived for many years ; nor dare the Weft India captains to refufe their men, without incuriing the difpleature of the planters, and teeing their thips rot in the harbour without a loading; nay, I have heard a failor fervently with he had been born a negro, and beg to be employed amongst them in cultivating a coffee plantation." Admit the truth of the facts above stated in their full extent (and there is no reafon to call them in question), and then fay whether flaves are the only objects of a juft man's compaffion; and whether Europeans and Freemen are not often plunged in deeper and more pungent dif refs. Soon after his arrival our author was attacked by a violent fever, in confequence of an intemperate and diffipated course of life in a very unhealthy climate. In this calamity he was treated with great kindness and humanity by many of the inhabitants of Surinam. But he attributed bis recovery chiefly to the good offices and tender nurfing of Joanna, who, hear. ing of his malady, came, with one of her filters, to offer her fervices. By her unremitting care and attention he had the good fortune to regain his health and fpirits in a great measure; at least, fo far as to take an airing in the carriage of a friend. "Till this time," fays our author, I had chiefly been Joanna's friend; but now I began to feel I was her captive. I renewed my wild propofals of purcha fing, educating, and transporting her to Europe; which, though offered with the moft perfect fincerity, were by her rejected, with this humble declaration : "I am born a low contemptible flave. Were you to treat me with too much attention, you must degrade yourself with all your friends and relations; while the purchafe of my freedom you will find expentive, difficult, and apparently impoffi ble. Yet, though a flave, I have a foul, I hope, not inferior to that of an European; and blush not to avow the regard I retain for you, who have diftinguished me fo much above all others of my unhappy birth. You have, Sir, pitied me; and now, independent of every other thought, I fhall have pride in throwing myself at your feet, till fate fhail part us, or my conduct become such as to give you caufe to banish me from your prefence." "This fhe uttered with a downcast look, and tears dropping on her heaving boom, while the held her companion by the hand. "From that inftant this excellent creature was mine;—nor had I ever cause to repent of the ftep I had taken, as will appear more particularly in the course of this narrative. "I cannot omit to record, that having purchafed for her prefents to the value of twenty guineas, I was the next day greatly aftonifhed to fee all my gold returned upon my table; the charming Joanna having carried every article back to the merchants, who cheerfully returned her the money. "Your generous intentions alone, Sir, (the faid) were fufficient: but allow me to tell you, that I cannot help considering any fuperfluous expence on my account as a diminution of that good opinion which I hope you have, and will ever entertain, of my difinterefted difpofi tion." geond, the commander of the regiment in which Capt. Stedman ferved. "As the ingredients of flattery or fear make but a mall part of that man's compofition, who prefumes to give thofe outlines, and who pretends perfectly to have known both characters, the reader may depend on having them painted in their true original colours, however itrong the fhades. "Governor Nepfu was faid to be rather a man of fenie than of learning, and was wholly indebted to his art and addreis for having risen to his prefent dig. nity from tweeping the hall of the Court-house. By the fame means he was en bled, from nothing, to accumulate a fortune, by tome computed at no lets than 8oool. fteiling, annually, and to command respect from all ranks of people, no perion ever daring to attack him but at a distance. His deportment was affable, but ironical, without ever lefing the command of his temper, which gave him the appearance of a man of fathion, and rendered his influence almost unbounded. He was generally known by the appellation of Reynard, and was moft certainly a fox of too much artifice to be run down by all the hounds in the colony. "Colonel Fourgeond was almoft exactly the reverse of this portrait. He was impetuous, paffionate, felf-fufficient, and revengeful: he was not cruel to individuals, but was a tyrant to the generality, and caufed the death of hundreds by his fordid avarice and oppreflion. With all this he was partial, un grateful, and confused; but a mot indefatigable man in bearing hardships, and in braving dan gers not exceeded by Columbus himfelf, which, like a true Buccaneer, he futtained with the most heroic courage, patience, and perfeverance. Though unconquerably harth and fevere to his officers, he was, however, not wanting in affability to the private foldiers. He had read, but had no education to affift him in digefting what he read. In fhort, few men could talk better, but, on moft eccnfions, few could act worle. "Such were the characters of our commanders, while the oppofition of two fuch men to each other could not fail to produce unhappiness to the troops, and operated as a fufficient caufe for the fluctating fate of political affairs in this dejected colony.' Capt. S. mentions a curious contrivance for fending a piece of ready roafted beef from Europe to Surinam, where, on account of the imall Lize and coarte grain of their own oxen, it is accounted a moft valuable and delicate prefent. The manner of preferving the meat for this long voyage, when roafted, is by putting it in a block-tin box, or caniller; then filling up the empty ipace with gravy or dripping, till it is perfectly covered over; after which the box mu? be foldered and made faft round about, io that neither air nor water can penetrate:-by these means it may be carried, with fafety, round the globe. At Paramaribo, the capital of Surinam, our author tasted a fish called a jackee, about eight or ten inches long, exceedingly fat and delicate, of which it is extremely remarkable that it changes to a frog. "Of this truth," fays Capt. S. "I was fully fatisfied, by feeing the above animal diffected, and tuipended in a bottle with fpirits; when the two hinder legs of a very finall frog made their appearance, growing within fide from that part of the back to which ufually the inteftines are fixed. He therefore juftly concludes, that the jackee is only a kind of tadpole, growing to a large fize before its ufual transformation. He mentions another extraordinary fpecies of fish, feen in great quantities near the town of New Amfterdamn, in this colony, which has four eyes, and fwims contantly with two above and two under the water. They are about the fize of a finelt, and move in thoals with incredible velocity. In the Seventh Chapter there is the following acc unt, in his own words, of the almolt miraculous e:cape of a foldier, who was wounded by the rebel negroes, and fell, in the engagement in which a Lieutenant Lapper and many men were killed. "I was hot, Sir," faid he, "with a mutket bullet, in my breaft; and to refift or escape being impoffible, as the only means left me to fave my life, I threw myfelf down among the mortally wounded and the dead, without moving hand or foot. Here, in the evening, the rebel chief, furveying his conqueft, ordered one of his captains to begin inftantly to cut off the heads of the flain, in order to carry them home to their village, as trophies of their victory; this captain, having already chopped off that of Lieutenant Lapper, and one or two more, faid to his friend, "Sonde go fieeby, caba makewe liby ten tera dogo tay tamara ;” "the fun is just going to fleep, we must leave thofe other dogs till to-morrow." Upon faying which (continued the fol dier), as I lay on my bleeding breaft, with my face refting on my left arm, he, dropping his hatchet into my fhoulder, made the fatal wound you fee, of which I fhall, perhaps, no more recover.-I, however, lay quite ftill. They went away, carrying along with them the mangled heads of my comrades, and five er fix prifoners alive, with their hands tied behind their backs, of whom I never fince have heard. When all was quiet, and it was very dark, I found means, on my hands and feet, to creep out from among the carnage, and get ject of optics is treated with accuracy and ability, but in fome parts will prove rather uninterefting to perfons not acquainted with the mathematics. The Fourth Book treats of electricity and electrical phenomena, thunder and lightning, waterspouts, meteors, the aurora borealis, &c. The Fifth Book relates to air, and is particularly important. The Economy of Nature explained and illuftrated on the Principles of Modern Philofophy. By G. Gregory, D. D. Joint Evening Preacher at the Foundling Hofpital, Author of Effays Hiftorical and Moral, &c. In Three Volumes. With Forty-fix Plates. J. Johníon. 1796. WE announce with pleasure the publication of a work which has long been a defideratum to ftudents; a work which communicates the important difcoveries in natural knowledge in an entertaining manner, and which prefents to general readers an eafy explanation of the moft curious phenomena which continually fall under the obfervation of mankind. To acquire fuch information is not only agreeable, but profitable, as by fhewing the connexion, utility, and mutual dependance of the works of the Creator, it converts idle wonder into devout admiration, and raifes an impregnable bulwark against the affaults of atheism. Dr. G. commences his work with a general account of the properties of matter, and concludes the First Book with the fubject of magnetilim. In the Second Book the nature and properties of that active and univerfal agent, heat, or fire, are confidered. After giving a hiftory of opinions and discoveries, both ancient and modern, with refpect to fire, he completes the fubject by a full account of the doctrines by which Dr. Black of Edinburgh has defervedly gained fe much reputation. In the Third Book the difcoveries relative to light and colours are brought down to the prefent time. In explaining the laws of vifion, the eye is confidered as an optical inftrument, which gives occafion to remark fuch defects in that organ as may be relieved by glaffes. The ftructure of the various forts of microfcopes and telescopes is confidered, and the principles are explained on which thefe inftruments are capable of improving fo wonderfully the powers of vifion. This book contains many pleafing relations refpecting the more striking phenemena of light and colours. The fubVOL, XXXI, AN, 1797. On the difcoveries which have been made with refpect to the properties of the elaftic fluids principally depend thofe vaft improvements in chemical and philofophical knowledge which have for fome years paft fo much engaged the attention of fcientific men. We have no hesitation in faying that the work before us contains the beft account of the different ipecies of air which has yet been prefented to the public. In this book are included the elasticity and weight of the atmofphere, with their more remarkable effects, the nature of found, the causes of winds, and the atmospherical phenomena; together with an account of the prognof tics of the weather, as far as they have been ascertained. It also explains the principles on which balloons afcend into the higher regions of the atmosphere. Minerals are the fubject of the Sixth Book, which leads to the ftructure of the earth, and the striking effects of volcanoes and earthquakes. In this part of the work the new chemical doctrines are better applied in explaining the changes which mineral fubftances undergo than we have yet feen. Water is the fubject of the Seventh Book, and from the various ftates and circumstances in which it is found, forms an interefting subject of enquiry. The Eighth Book treats, pretty largely, of vegetation, the ftructure of vegetables, and the properties of E vege vegetable fubftances. The Ninth Book, for almost the whole of which our author acknowledges himself indebted to Dr. Belcher, of Maidstone, treats of the ftructure and functions of animals. The anatomical part is accurate, but in fome parts more minute, than, perhaps, the plan of the work required. The phyfiology is entertaining, and might have been prolonged with advantage. The Tenth and last book gives a concife and judicious view of the human mind. That the Doctor has not embrace the pernicious tenets of what is called the New Philofophy, will appear from the following ex tract: "That the doctrine of the association of ideas fhould, in the mind of any visionary writer, have ever been connected with the fatal neceffity of human actions, is, I confeis, to me a matter of furprize. Miterable, indeed, must be the state of man, if he was endued with no power of regulating or directing the train of his ideas; if they muft flow for ever in one necellary, unbroken channel, or if external objects alone were to dictate to us what to think. It is obvious, that if this was the cafe, there could be no variety, and scarcely any change in the purfuits of men: the thoughts must flow from each other in one uninterrupted sevies, and man could not be an accountable, and scarcely a rational creature. "It is, however, plain, that we have a power of interrupting the train of thought, of dwelling more intenfely upon particular ideas, and even of occafionally diverting our reflections and contemplations into new channels; and this power alone is fufficient, in my opinion, to conftitute man a free agent. Indeed, thofe authors who contend moft for the doctrine of a fatal neceflity are among the first to recommend an application to ftudy and the cultivation of the mind; whereas, if the mind is endued with no fpontaneous energy whatever, no felf-directing agency, furely fuch a recommendation is inconfiftent and abfurd †. "On any question of ferious importance, analogical reafoning fhould be admitted with the utmost caution; and yet a fenfelefs and puerile analogy has been called in to the aid of an argument, which cannot be fupported by pofitive proof. Motive and action in morals, have been compared to caufe and effect in phyfics. That fome motive in the mind precedes every human action is certain, and thus far the analogy is juft; but the motive may as well be in the will itself, as the mere refult of any external caufe. If, indeed, the analogy was true in all its parts, a human being would be altogether as fubject to the laws of inert matter as a block of marble or of wood. Whatever is fubject to an abfolute neceflity, can never "It is impossible to obferve, without a smile, men boasting of being the difciples of Mr. Locke, who have apparently never read a page of his writings, or, if they have ooked into them, have evidently misunderstood them. With how much justice this real philofopher is reprefented as a favourer of the abfurdities of the fatalifts, will appear from the following paffage : This at leaft (fays Mr. Locke) I think evident, that we find in ourselves a power to begin or forbear, continue or end several actions of our minds, and motions of our bodies, barely by a thought or preference of the mind ordering, or, as it were, commanding the doing or not doing fuch or fuch a particular action. This power which the mind has thus to order the confideration of any idea, or the forbearing to confider it, or to prefer the motion of any part of the body to its reft, and vice versa, in any particular inítance, is what we call the will."-Locke's Effay, B. ii. c. 21. "If there is no degree of freedom or fpontaneity in human actions, what is meant by the words deliberation, prudence, and judgment? If the opinion of the fatalifts is true, our interference in any matter or act on is superfluous; and yet who is there that does not perceive, that the courfe of a dangerous disease may be impeded by the calling in of a phyfi. cian? a matter which was entirely within the choice of the patient himself. "The arguments by which the atheists have attempted to prove this analogy are the moft abfurd and puerile that can well be imagined, "Every effect," say they, " muft proceed from fome cause, and this cause must be dependent on another." The direct conclufion from this is, "that there is no where any o igin or beginning of motion, but every thing is neceffarily produced by an eterna! chain of caufes and effects, without any independent origin. Such reafoning as this exactly refembles that of the Indian, who fuppofes the earth to reft on a crocodile, the crocodile on an elephant-but what does the elephant reft on? In fact, to compare the operations of the mind to any of the qualities of matter, is to compare, as Dr. Clarke obferves, a fquare to the colour of blue, or a triangle to a found. It is like the blind man, who, being asked what idea lie had of fearlet, faid, he fancied it must be fomething like the found of a drum. be be the incipient caufe, or the beginning of motion or action of any kind; it mult be altogether under the command and direction of external objects; it must be altogether inert or paffive, having no principle of action in itfelf. On this account, as I before intimated, there would be much more uniformity in the actions of men, if they were fubject to a fatal influence, than there appears to be; there would be no difficulty in deciding what must be their conduct in any given circumstances. "A freedom of deliberating, chufing, and determining upon things, is what every man feels in himself. It is the dictate of nature and common fenfe; one of the first perceptions we have of the operations of our own minds. It does not lie with us, therefore, to prove, that the human mind is free; but it lies with the opponents of liberty to prove that it is not free; and this ought to be done upon direct, pofitive, experimental evidence; and not upon fanciful analogies or conjecture. "The only argument which the fatalifts have ever been able to adduce, which at alt bears upon the point, is this-that men act from motives, and thefe motives are dependent upon fituation and external circumstances. This, then, is really the point at iffue between the fatalifts, and "the advocates for the free agency of man. The former fuppofe the influence of motives from external caufes to be abfolute and unlimited; the latter allow the influence of motives to a certain extent, but they deny that it is abfolute and unlimited. "In the prefent ftate of human knowledge, it is, indeed, a fpecies of dogmatifm not to be endured, to pretend precifely to afcertain how far the influence of external motives extends over the mind of man. That external caufes, should have a certain weight and influence with us, is certainly confiftent with the wifdom of Divine Providence, and confiftent with that order and regularity which he has every where eftablished. If men were to act entirely independent of all influence from external caufes and circumftances, the world would be an entire scene of confufion and diforder; if, on the contrary, they were endued with no power of choice or deliberation, the whole would be an inani mate uniform mass, subject to certain and definite laws, as much as inert matter. In this, therefore, the fame happy medium appears to be established as in other inftances. Man, from his natural relation to external things, from that wonderful connexion which exifts between the body and the mind, is fubject to a certain influence from fituation and circumstances; but there is still in his own mind a power of reflecting, deliberating, and deciding upon his motives and conduct. "Another argument in favour of fatality is deduced from the prefcience of the Deity. "If God foreknows all things (it is alleged), then every event must be predetermined." But this argument reits upon the fame prefumptuous foundation as the preceding, which would pofitively determine the precife degree of influence that external caufes must have upon the mind ofman. Dogmatism certainly never was the road to truth, and is utterly inconfiftent with that modefty and humility, which is the very characteristic of a real Philofopher. The prefcience of the Deity! Who will dare to fay that he is able to define it? Who will dare to allege that he understands every particular circumitance and attribute of the Divine existence? To fay that God cannot exercife his own powers in that way which is moft agreeable to the ends that infinite wisdom propofes, and infinite goodness would dictate, is to define and limit omnipotence! and to affirm that God cannot conftitute man a free agent, cannot in this inftance difpenfe with his own prefcience, is to fay, that God is not omnipotent. This was long my own opinion; and I was happy to find it confirmed by the excellent and judicious Dr. Henry More, whofe fentiments on this fubject were pointed out to me by a friend. "It is true (fays he) we cannot otherwife think of God's fore-knowledge, but as being every way clear and perfect, and without poffibility of error, as to those objects about which he judges or pronounces. And furely he does always judge and determine of things according as they are; that is to fay, of a contingent thing as it is contingent; and of a neceffary thing as it is neceffary. Whence it comes to pass, that those things which are contingent and proceed from a free principle of acting, are allowed to be feen by God's confent. "As it is in the motions of the body, fo it is in the thoughts of our minds; where any one is fuch, that we have power to take it up, or lay it by, according to the prefesence of the mind, there we are at liberty."—Locke's Effay, B. ii. c. 21. E 2 "But |