founded on the wise law made in the 43d year of Queen Elizabeth for the maintenance and employment of the poor; and institutions of a similar nature have been attended with success, not only in different parts of the kingdom, but on the Continent. In Hamburgh, we are informed, where the inhabitants are estimated at 110,000, and where no beggar is seen, but the poor are actually relieved and their children carefully instructed, the aggregate expence for a year does not exceed 14,000l.: while the sum annually raised in Norwich, which contains perhaps less than 40,000 inhabitants, is 24,000/ A great encouragement in the case here brought before us, and which shews the practicability of such institutions, is, that the greatest annual sum subscribed by any individual to the institution in this part of Essex is not allowed to exceed five shillings.-Among the observations in this pamphlet, we particularly approve of that which complains of those acts of the legislature which permit parishes to farm their poor to governors of workhouses, and to affix badges to the clothes of paupers: regulations which make it painful for indi gent persons of any sensibility to apply for that relief which the infirmities and calamities incident to human nature render necessary for them.'

Art. 51.

Observations on the Strength of the present Government of France, and upon the Necessity of rallying round it. Translated from the French of Benjamin Constant, by James Losh. 8vo. 2S. Robinsons. 1797.

pp. 100.

This pamphlet contains many sensible and acute observations on the present Constitution, and on the principal governors, of the French Republic. The weakness and folly of many of the surviving Girondists are well described in the following passage:

• What then, at this crisis, was the conduct of the men described above, and who now proclaimed themselves, in the name of the nation, the organs of the public opinon? Though weak, they declared themselves inexorable; without power to punish, they refused to forgive; and, in the height of their absurdity, they denied an amnesty which could alone save the country) to those very persons whom they permitted to rule over them; and whom they thus forced to secure, by violence, that impunity which they would have been willing to deserve by their actions.

They reproached the government with bitterness for every false step which it made, while they gave it no credit when it acted properly. They loudly demanded reparation for every thing they had suffered, though they were not inclined to grant any indulgence whatever to others. They accused the men in office of the ferocity of demons, while they provoked them, as if they supposed them possessed of the patience of angels. They involved together, with out distinction, the innocent and the guilty, the weak and the criminal. Neither imprisonment nor proscription, nor all the various circumstances which hindered nearly half the Convention from taking even a passive part in the tyranny while it existed; nor even the zeal with which, since its destruction, it has rejected from its bosom (sometimes with more precipitation than regularity) such of its mem

bers

bers as were suspected to be concerned in it; could, in the slightest degree disarm the severity of these censors. They seemed to triumph in being able to prove, that out of 750 persons, to whom they had intrusted their lives and their fortunes, not one honest man was to be found. They, by their violence, changed sorrow into fear, remorse into fury; and then were astonished that this fear and this fury should not always produce wise and gentle measures.'

Art. 52. Memoirs of Charette, Chief of the Royal and Christian Armies in the Interior of France: Containing Anecdotes of his private Life, and Details of the War in La Vendée.

By an Emi

grant of Distinction. Translated from the French. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Jordan.

Those who are accustomed to peruse with pleasure the funeral orations of the French preachers, who confound a convulsionary with an eloquent style, and conceive that to write a good eulogy requires no other skill than to apply vague praise profusely and unmixed, may delight in these Memoirs. They begin thus

Charette is dead! Weep, faithful subjects; religion has lost her most zealous defender, the monarchy its firmest support, the opprest a protector, the unhappy a father. Weep! he has borne with him your esteem, your admiration, perhaps, alas! your hopes; he has left behind him nothing but sorrow and regret! If my talents equalled the sensibility which fills my soul, I should easily excite the sensibility of my readers; I should cause them to shed those tears which gratitude and friendship love to pour upon his tomb.-But what do I say? The panegyrist of Charette has no need of the magic of com position, of the fictions invented at will to move and strike the passions;-no! by relating simple facts, by following this great man from his youth until the moment which terminated his days, I shall oblige even his enemies to grant him their esteem; and, perhaps, I shall have the consolation of hearing them mix their sighs with the mournful accents of my grief.'

Our readers will be at no loss to imagine, from this specimen, what entertainment they will find in the perusal of the whole performance. The historical portion of the work has, however, every appearance of fidelity, as to facts.

Art. 53. Remarks on Shakspere's Tempest; containing an Investigation of Mr. Malone's Attempt to ascertain the Date of that Play; and various Notes and Illustrations of abstruse Readings and Passages. By Charles Dirrill, Esq. 8vo. pp. 96. 28. Printed at Cambridge; sold by Rivingtons, &c. London. 1797. We must confess that we see nothing in the conjectures of Mr. Dirrill which can invalidate those of Mr. Malone, in respect to the probable time at which our immortal Bard composed this most beautiful of his compositions. We form no decision on the dispute, as we deem it of little importance. Whether the Tempest was written in 1612, or between 1609 and 1616, the date for which Mr. Dirrill contends, is a question that appears to be of no consequence; and the conjectural evidence carries little conviction with it on either side. A more interesting subject, however, calls our attention, as Mr.

Bbz

Dirrill

1

Dirrill has offered Notes on this Play; some of which are set in opposition to those of Mr. Steevens and Mr. Malone: but, on a perusal of his remarks, we are induced to conclude that he is by no means capa ble of coping with the learning and acuteness of Steevens, nor with the indefatigable diligence and accuracy of Malone.

Art. 54. Dissertations on the English Language; with Notes, historical and critical, &c. By Noah Webster jun. Esq. 8vo. Printed at Boston in New England; sold by Dilly, London. 8s. Art. 55. A Collection of Essays and Fugitive Writings, on moral, historical, political, and literary Subjects. By Noah Webster jun. Attorney at Law. 8vo. Printed at Boston; sold by Dilly, London. 8s.

These American publications, which were printed about five or six years ago, have lately been put into our hands for the purpose of announc ing them to our readers. They are now so much out of date, indeed, that we must content ourselves with little more than barely giving their titles. From a slight view, they appear to be written by a man of reading and reflection, though we believe that they will be found defective in originality and exactness on this side of the Atlantic. Some of the local information in the latter work might afford matter for quotation, did it still retain the merit of novelty: but, in the changing scene of a new state, eight or ten years must naturally tend to antiquate a subject. We are sorry to observe in the latter part of this volume a very peculiar and unsightly mode of spelling, founded on a rule of pronunciation adopted by the author, but which, notwithstanding his plausible reasons for it, more mature experience will most probably induce him to abandon.

Art. 56. A Visit to the Philadelphia Prison; being an accurate and particular Account of the wise and humane Administration adopted in every Part of that Building; containing also an Account of the gradual Reformation, and present improved State of the Penal Laws of Pennsylvania: with Observations on the Impolicy and Injustice of Capital Punishments. In a Letter to a Friend. By Robert J. Turnbull, of South Carolina. 8vo. Is. 6d. Phillips and Son. 1797.

Though we have already been favoured with accounts both of the penitentiary house of Philadelphia, and of the new criminal code of Pennsylvania, yet so grateful to an humane mind is the view of improvements in the state of public happiness, that we must receive with pleasure any additional confirmation of the practicability of plans so essentially beneficial to society. Mr. Turnbull's pamphlet gives a very distinct and well-written description of the prison and its regulations, with the effects that have been experienced from them; and we readily agree with the benevolent writer, that it would have rejoiced the heart of Howard to have seen his leading ideas carried into perfect execution, and producing all the beneficial consequences that his most sanguine hopes could have conceived.

With respect to the Pennsylvanian improved penal code, and the writer's reasonings concerning capital punishments, we confess that they have excited a strong emotion in our minds; a considerable part

of

of which consists of mingled sorrow and shame for the notorious faults of our own criminal jurisprudence, for the amendment of which no considerations of humanity nor of enlightened policy have been able to rouze any serious endeavours. That the nation which was the first in abolishing torture should be the most vigorous and pertinacious in exacting the dreadful forfeiture of life, for mere violations of property, is a striking and melancholy proof of the inconsistency of the human character! Meantime, publications like the present cannot but have their use. emoving prejudices, and in preparing the minds of men for the cai.. influence of reason and equity.

SINGLE SERMONS, &c.

Art. 57. Preached at Monkwell-street Meeting-house, October 16th, 1796, on occasion of the Death of Dr. James Fordyce, formerly Pastor of the Congregation worshipping in that Place, who died at Bath, October 1st, aged 76. By James Lindsay. 8vo. pp. 66. Is. 6d. Johnson. 1797.

Having had frequent occasion of paying a willing tribute of respect to the worthy Dr. Fordyce during his life, and being perfectly persuaded that his writings were well calculated for usefulness, particularly by forcibly impressing on young minds the love of piety and virtue; we are happy in finding that he has not finished his course without receiving a public testimony suited to his merit. The respect due to the characters and memories of faithful and able ministers of religion is well illustrated in this discourse; and the general doctrine is applied to the occasion, in a sketch of the Life of Dr. Fordyce. Contenting ourselves with a commendation of the former part of this sermon, we shall extract from the latter some particulars:

Dr. James Fordyce was born at Aberdeen, of very respectable parents, who had the singular fortune of transmitting superior talents to almost every individual of a numerous family.'

Having acquired the foundation of classical knowledge at the grammar school of Aberdeen, and completed a regular course of study both in philosophy and divinity at the Marischal College in the same place, he was licensed when very young, according to the forms of the church of Scotland, to be a preacher of the Gospel, and was settled soon after as one of the ministers of Brechin, in the county of Angus. After remaining there some years, he received a present ation to the parish of Alloa, near Stirling, the inhabitants of which were prepossessed in favour of another minister, whom they knew, and prejudiced against the Doctor, whom they did not know. He entered upon this charge, therefore, under a considerable degree of popular odium. But this odium he soon overcame, not more by the able and impressive manner in which he conducted the public services of the Sabbath, than by the amiable and condescending spirit, with which he performed the more private duties of visiting, and catechising in the different districts of his parish,-duties, which, as they used to be performed by the Scotch clergy, contributed much more than preaching to the religious instruction of the lower classes of the people, and established that kind of connexion between them and

their ministers, which enabled the latter, on various occasions, to make deep and lasting impressions upon the minds of the former, and to render them in consequence more sober, more industrious, and more pious, than the same classes of the community are in any other part of the island. No one knew better how to avail himself of the advantage of this mode of instruction, than Dr. Fordyce. By his attention and assiduity in this, and the other duties of his ministry, he gained so much upon the esteem and affection of his parishioners, that prejudice gave place to admiration. Their attachment soon became unbounded, and when he left them afterwards to settle in London, his removal occasioned universal regret. This attachment was mutual; and it was owing only, as I have heard the Doctor say, to the pressing solicitation of near relations, and the natural desire of living among them, with the hope that his usefulness, upon the whole, might be rather increased than diminished, that he left a parish where he was respected and beloved, and where that love and respect enabled him to fulfil, with so much pleasure and advantage, the important ends of his Christian ministry.

It was during his residence at Alloa, that he first distinguished himself as an author by the successive publications of three sermons. One upon the Eloquence of the Pulpit, was annexed to the "Art of Preaching," by his brother David. Another upon the Methods of Promoting Edification by Public Institutions, was preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Gibson at St. Ninians, a neighbouring parish, in the year 1754, and published, with the charge and notes. in 1755. The third, upon the delusive, and persecuting Spirit of Popery, was preached the same year before the Synod of Perth, and Stirling, and shortly after its publication, came to a second edition. These sermons were all good in their kind, and all deservedly attracted notice. But that which most strongly arrested the attention, both of the audience, before which it was delivered, and of the public, to which it was given from the press in 1750, was his sermon on the folly, infamy, and misery of unlawful pleasure, preached before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The picture, which was exhibited in this sermon, of the wretched effects of unlawful pleasure, was evidently drawn by the hand of a master. The spirit and elegance of the composition; the solemnity, animation, and feeling, with which it was delivered, produced, as I have heard, a very striking impression upon a numerous congregation both of ministers and laymen of the first respectability, and raised the preacher to an unrivalled pre-eminence among his brethren in Scotland, as a pulpit

orator.

It was about this time, perhaps on occasion of this sermon, that its author received the degree of doctor of divinity from the univer sity of Glasgow; and if there is yet any thing honourable in acade mical titles, prostituted as they have been by an undistinguishing dis tribution, the honour could have been conferred on no man, in the church to which he then belonged, with greater propriety, than on James Forydce.

In 1760 he was unanimously invited, by the society of Protestant Dissenters worshipping in this place, to be co-pastor with, and event

ually