advancing many pofitions which are very doubtful, and fome which are unquestionably contrary to fact and experience. There is one principle, in particular, that feems to lie at the foundation of a great part of his reafoning, and often recurs in feveral parts of his elaborate performance, which, in our opinion, is evidently groundless. Population (and he repeats the fentiment once and again) depends on circulation; and as the latter increases, the former increafes likewife. The number of inhabitants, fays he, will be in proportion to the facility of fubfifting; and the facility of fubfifting in proportion to that of exchanging one commodity for another; and this finally in proportion to the quantity of circulation either of money or of paper currency. Every country in Europe is peopled in proportion to the quantity of circulation. There are now ten towns for one that was ten centuries ago; we are therefore furprised, how fo many learned men could imagine that our population declines.' We are fully perfuaded, however furprifing it may be to this writer, that it is indeed the lamentable fact, (and we believe it is capable of the ftrictest demonftration,) that population has been upon the decrease in this country for feveral years paft, and that this decrease has been very confiderable. Our limits will not allow a critical examination of the Author's reafoning in other particulars. We will therefore conclude with just mentioning another fentiment, which, to fay the least of it, is very controvertible, and which, it is certain, will not hold univerfally, viz. The induftry of a nation will be in proportion to the quantity of circulation.' We apprehend, that in fome degree, and within certain limits, this may be the cafe. But there is a maximum, beyond which it fails. ART. 29. Character of the English Nation, drawn by a French Pen. In a Letter to a Friend. 8vo. 6d. Bath. Hazard. 1771. This French pen is that of the Abbé Richard, whofe Natural Hif tory of the Air and Meteors, in 6 vols. 12mo. we fummarily analifed in the Appendix to our 434 volume, page 534. This philofophical goffip, as we there obferved, not confining himself to to the atmosphere, frequently enters within doors, and draws, at his leifure, the phyfical, moral, and even political characters of his numerous hofis. In the article above referred to, we amused ourselves, and poffibly our readers, by copying a feature or two of the picture which he gives of our countrymen. Thofe who, after the view of this fpecimen, may be ftill curious to fee the figure of an Englishman drawn at full length, and properly fhaded and coloured, we refer to the prefent pamphlet. Art. 30. The Life of Servetus. By Jaques George de Chauffpié. Being an Article of his Hiftorical Dictionary, printed at Amfterdam, &c. in the Year 1756. Translated from the French, by James Yair, Minifter of the Scot's Church in Campvere. Svo. 4s. Baldwin. 1171. The cruel fate of this unhappy Spaniard, hath drawn down a -general odium on the character of that famous reformer John Calvin, to whofe intolerant fpirit it was chiefly and incontestably owing that poor Servetus was brought to his FIERY TRIAL, for maintaining the unity of the Supreme Being, in oppofition to the Athanafian doctrine of the Trinity. It is difficult to determine whether the principle of religious per fecution be most wicked, or most weak.-Calvin, imagining Servetus to be wandering in darkness and error, feems to have concluded, that no light would fo furely guide him to the truth, as that of a bonfire, in which the convert himself was to be the principal faggot. How abominable, and, at the fame time, how abfurd! The defign of this performance feems to be grounded on the honeft maxim of giving the Devil his due. The Author is a moderate apologist for Calvin; whofe infamy he endeavours to leffen, by placing the whole weight of the odium incurred by this diabolical tranfaction, in equal proportions, on the fhoulders of the civil magiftrates of Geneva, in connection with Calvin, as joint agents in the fame act of perfecution and tyrany. It is certain that Calvin, great as his power and influence was in that city, did not, and could not, alone, bring the unfortunate heretic to the ftake; but what extenuation of his* crime can be drawn from this circumftance? As much as might with equal reafon have been pleaded by any one of the Jews lately executed for the robbery and murder at Chelfea, I did not fingly perpetrate the fact, for we were all concerned t! In fine, we fee candour itself may be engaged in a bad cause; and we must add, that, with our ftrong feelings and extreme abhorrence of religious perfecution, we cannot but think, that next to the guilt of an actual commiffion of this horrible crime is that of endeavouring to leffen its odium, by any degree of palliation: for what is it, but an apology for the worst kind of MURDER? Art. 31. The Life of Lamenther. A true Hiftory. Containing a juft Account of the many Misfortunes the underwent, occafioned by the ill Treatment of an unnatural FATHER. 8vo. 5 s. half bound. Evans. 1771. Lamenther (or Lament-ber) is the name affumed by the writer, who appears to have been, from her infancy, the miferable object of her own parent's unnatural perfecution. She does not mention her father's name at length, but ftyles him Mr. W--, of C—- Inn.› This apologift acknowledges, that the Reformer had kept the principles he had imbibed in the church of Rome, concerning the punishment of heretics; and that he was perfuaded, in good earnett, that they were to be extirpated by the fword.' But, it feems, the operation of the word, literally fpeaking, was a method too mild. and gentle to be used by thefe holy extirpators! † Calvin's apologift urges, very strongly, the general prevalency of the perfecuting principle, in the time of this reformer. So far from being peculiar to Calvin, he fays, it was the reigning opinion of the most celebrated and the most moderate divines: it was the opinion of all Proteftant churches.'-We are afraid there is too much truth in this. But how little reason, then, have we, in a more enlightened age, to look with a blind reverence, upon every thing done and enacted by the early reformers of the church of Rome; who, while they were fo zealously employed in abolishing mere external ceremonies, could not find in their hearts to renounce her intolerant, bloody principle of PERSECUTION for CONSCIENCE-SAKE! This monster is here reprefented as having treated his child with fuch determined and continued barbarity as exceeds all that story ever related*, or that imagination can conceive: inflicting upon her every torment that hunger, nakedness, and blows can produce, without total depravation of life and even that feems to have been nearly hazarded at times, when the wretched fufferer hardly escaped with broken ribs, and other injuries, of which the fays the can never recover.-Poor Lamenther tells us, indeed, fuch a tale as, in fome of its circumftances of cruelty, feems beyond credibility; and yet we fear there is but too much truth in it. We hope, however, for the credit of human nature, that the fuffering writer's resentment of the irreparable injuries fhe has received, may have hurried her on to represent her wicked and worfe than brutal parent, in colours fomewhat blacker than his natural hue: though there feems but little room to doubt that his complection is dark enough. Art. 32. An authentic and circumflantial Narrative of the astonishing Tranfactions at Stockwell, in the County of Surrey, on the 6th and 7th of January, 1772.-Published with the Confent of the Family and other Parties concerned, to authenticate which the original Copy is figned by them. 8vo. 6 d. Marks. The refurrection of the Cock-lane Ghoft. NOVEL S. Art. 33. Love in a Nunnery; or, the fecret History of Mifs Charlotte Hamilton, a young Lady; who, after a variety of uncommon Incidents, was forced into a Convent, &c. &c. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. Rofon. A fhamele's catch-penny jobb, meanly pilfered from old novels, and nunnery-tale books. The fiory of the pretended Mifs Hamilton is wholly tranfcribed from the English translation of a well-known French Romancer, by the Chevalier de Monchy, entitled The Fortunate Country Maid. Art. 34. The Oxonian: or, the Adventures of Mr. G. Edmunds, Student of Oxford. By a Member of the Univerfity. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. Rofon. We Another production of equal merit with the foregoing article; partly ftolen from the Adventures of Charles Careless †, Efq; Tuppole the Bookfeller has been taken in for thefe two pretended new pieces, by fore genius who, perhaps, would have out-curl'd Curl himfelf, had they been co-temporaries. Art. 35. The unfafhionable Wife. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6 s. Lowndes. 17-2. Thefe volumes contain fo much intrigue and bufinefs, that they cannot fail of being highly acceptable to a multitude of readers. Art. 36. Female Frailty; or, the Hiftory of Mifs Wrough ton. Izmo. 2 Vols. 65. 1772. Noble. To judge from this performance, one would imagine, that wo men were mere objects of luxury and voluptuoufnels; and that both the foxes had nothing to which they thould attend but the glory of His horrid barbarity naturally reminds us of the cruelties practifed by the Brownriggs, on a miferable orphan; but this wretch cems to have far out-done even the Brownriggs! + See Review, vol. xxx. p. .28. conqueft, conquefts the rivalfhip of beauty, the garniture of dress, and the arts of feduction; and, in fine, to practice all the allurements that work upon the fenfes. It must be allowed, however, that the writer has related an affecting ftory, the moral of which is comprized in the following cautions to readers of both fexes: The woman who thinks herself the most virtuous of her fex, and who prefumes upon her own ftrength, may, by granting the man, whom the fondly loves, improper (though feemingly trifling) liberties, be led into a fituation which the can never remember but with horror and fhame:-Never put yourself into any man's power; nor let any man wish to try the woman whom he intends to marry.'-The virtuous FAIR, we apprehend, will not think the writer meant any compliment to the fex by the latter part of this advice; or, indeed, by the general plan of his work; which affords a melancholy exhibition of Female Frailty. Art. 37. The Advantages of Deliberation; or, the Folly of Indifcretion. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. fewed. Robinfon and Roberts. 1772. To render his performance interefting, our Author has ventured beyond the bounds of probability and nature: But though, by this means, he may create the furprize, and roufe the curiofity, of vulgar readers, the extravagance of the events he has produced will neceffarily difguft thofe who can judge of what may happen in real life, and who know the principles and motives of human conduct. Art. 38. The Perplexities of Riches. 12mo. 5s. fewed. Robinfon and Roberts. 1771. In this publication, there is nothing that bears the most diftant allusion to its title. The perplexities which its hero is reprefented to have undergone, were evidently the confequences of vicious and unhappy paffions, and did not flow from the poffeffion of wealth. For riches and moral turpitude are not neceffarily connected. The ftyle in which it is written is feeble and languid; it difplays no knowledge of fashionable life, and, after the moft diligent perufal, we can find in it no circumstances that render it in the fmalleft degree interefting or valuable. Art. 39. The married Victim; or, the Hiftory of Lady Villars. A Narrative founded on Facts. Izmo. 2 vols. 5 S. fewed. Hookham. 1772. In these volumes, the reader is prefented with fcenes of diftrefs; but, as they are pourtrayed without palion, they make no impreffion on his heart, The Author, without fenfibility or genius, fhould not have entered on the talk of defcribing the human mind under the agitation of anxieties and emotions which he could not feel. Sentiments delitute of delicacy, adventures diftrefsful, but unnatural, and without propriety, and expreffions coarfe and inelegant, can never awakci. the affections, and excite a tender fympathy. Art. 40. The Trial, or the Hiftory of Charles Horton, Efq. By a Gentleman. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9s. Vernor. 1772. This performance recommends itself by the chastity of its fentiments, the variety of its characters, and the propriety of its expreflion. It is, indeed, a beautiful difplay of the judgment and fenfibility of its Author. Art. POETICA L. Art. 41. En Epifle from Mrs. B****y to his R***l* H*****ss the D*** of C********d: or Beauty scourging Rank. 4to. Battefon. 1779. I S. Some catch-penny Rhimer has made the poor abandoned Mrs. Baily fcold and abufe her royal deferter most outragioufly: the virulence of billingfgate in the numbers of Grubftreet. SERMONS. I. Repentance the only Condition of final Acceptance,-before the dif- II. The Neceffity of Charity,-at St. Bartholomew's Chapel, for the Benefit of the Children of the Charity School in Birmingham, May 12, 1771. By John Adamthwaite, A. M. of Queen's College, Oxford. Birmingham printed, and fold by Aris, fold also by Becket, &c. in London. 1 III. At the new Meeting-house near Chelwood in Somersetshire, Nov. 1771, on the Death of the Rev. Mr. David Lewis, Diffenting Minifter at French Hay, near Bristol. By Lewis Lewis. 8vo. 6d. Cadell, &c. IV. At Williamfburg, May 5, 1771, for the Benefit of a Fund to fupport the poor Widows and Orphans of Clergymen in Virginia. By S. Henley, Profeffor of moral Philofophy, in William and Mary College. 4to. 6d. Payne, Davies, &c. Art. 42. An Attempt to reflore the true reading and rendering of the laft Verfe of the 4th Chapter of Nehemiah. Before the University of Oxford, at St Mary's, Sept. 29, 1771. By John. Hopkins, B. D. Vicar of Cropredy, and late Fellow of Pembroke College. 8vo. 6d. Rivington. The words which the Author has endeavoured to illuftrate ftand thus in our prefent tranflation: So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my fervants, nor the men of the guard which followed me; none of us put off our clothes, faving, that every one put them off for washing.· As the laft claufe of this verfe conveys a fenfe which appears very trifling, and even abfurd, Mr. Hopkins fecks for a more commodious fignification, and fuppofes that it ought to be rendered, every man with his fword in the right hand, or (more grammatically) of the right hand. This conftruction he hath fo well fupported by a different tranflation of one word, a conjectural emendation of another, and feveral collateral obfervations, that there can be little doubt of the juftnefs and truth of his criticiím. He has added fome judicious remarks concerning the text of the Old Tellament, the importance of fiudying the Hebrew language, and the manner in which the knowledge of it ought to be applied. Errata in this Month's Review, viz. In the account of Mr. Jones's Perfian Grammar, p. 39, par. 3, 1. 21, dele their. P. 41, l.. 3d, from the bottom, for del, r. dil; and for delirib, r. diirib. P. 42, par. 3. r. and it would undoubtedly have been for the intereft of the learner, if he had added, &c. ༣༢༢ ་ There is an ambiguity in this word, on which the reader is left to put his own conftruction. |