they employ for attaining it are ftrangely prepofterous. If the profpect of nature exhibited in their Tystems, produce tranquility or indisturbance, how dreadful muft that tranquility be! It is like that of a man, turned adrift amidst a dark and tempestuous ocean, in a crazy fkiff, with neither rudder nor compafs; who, exhaufted by the agitations of despair and distraction, lofes at last all fenfe of his mifery, and becomes totally ftupid. In fact, the only thing that can enable fceptics to endure existence is infenfibility. And how far that is confiftent with delicacy of mind, let thofe among them explain who are ambitious of paffing for men of tafte. It is remarked by a very ingenious and amiable writer, that * many philofophers have been infidels, few men of tafte and "fentiment *." This, if I miftake not, holds equally true of our fceptics in philofophy, and infidels in religion and it holds true of both for the fame reason. The views and expectations of the infidel and feeptic are fo full of horror, that to a man of tafte, that is of fenfibility and imagination, they are infupportable. On the other hand, what true religion and true philosophy dictate of God, and providence, and man, is fo charming, fo confonant with all the finer and nobler feelings in human nature, that every man of tafte who hears of it, must wish it to be true: and I never yet heard of one perfon of candour, who wished to find the evidence of the gospel fatisfactory, and did not find it fo. Dull imaginations and hard hearts can bear the thought of endless confufion, of virtue depreffed and vice triumphant, of an universe peopled with fiends and furies, of creation annihilated, and chaos restored to remain a scene of darknefs and folitude for ever and for ever but it is not fo with the benevolent and tender-hearted. Their notions are regulated by another ftandard; their hopes and fears, their joys and forrows, are quite of a different kind. The moral powers, and the powers of taste are more congenial than is commonly imagined; and he who is deftitute of the latter will ever be found as incapable to defcribe or judge of the former, as a man wanting the fenfe of fmell is to decide concerning relishes. Nothing is more true, than that "a little learning is a dangerous "thing." If we are but a little acquainted with one part of a complicated fyftem, how is it poffible for us to judge aright, either of the nature of the whole, or the fitnefs of that part! And a little knowledge of one fmall part of the mental fyftem, is all that any man can be allowed to have, who is defective in imagination, fenfibility, and the other powers of taste. Yet, as ignorance is apt to produce temerity, I fhould not be furprized to find fuch men moft forward to attempt reducing the philofophy of human nature to fyftem; and if they made the attempt, I should not wonder that they fell into the most important mistakes. Like a fhort-fighted landscape painter, they might poffibly delineate fome of the largest and roughest figures with tolerable exactnefs: but of Dr. Gregory's comparative view, pa 201, fourth edition. the minuter objects, fome would wholly escape their notice; and others appear blotted and diftorted, on which nature had beflowed the utmost delicacy of colour, and harmony of proportion. The modern fceptical philofophy is as corrupt a body of fcience as ever appeared in the world. And it deferves our notice, that the most confiderable of its adherents and promoters were more eminent for fubtlety of reafon, than for fenfibility of tafte. We know that this was the cafe with Malebranche, of whom Mr. D'Alembert fays, that he could not read the most fublime verfes without wearinefs and disgust*. This was alfo the cafe with another author, to whom our later fceptics are more obliged than they feem willing to acknowledge, I mean Mr. Hobbes; whofe tranflation of Homer bears juft fuch a refemblance to the Iliad and Odyffey, as a putrifying carcafe bears to a beautiful and vigorous human body. Of the taite of our later fceptics, I leave the reader to judge from his own observation. felf, and for every thing elfe, and difqualify it alike for action, and for useful knowledge. The Hiftory and Art of Horsemanship, by Richard Berenger, Efq; Gentleman of the Horfe to his Majesty. In two Volumes, Quarto. à Horfemanfhip is à subject already enobled by the pen of Zenophon, a tranflation of whofe treatife our author has inferted in this work; and indeed there cannot exift a topic of difcuffion which learning and ingenuity will not render matter of inftruction and delight. He has alfo enriched his work with a curious differtation on the antient chariot; in which the writer has happily employed his hiftorical and claffical learning to analyze, and afterwards to put together, that curious object, which must be confidered not only as a vehicle, but as a military machine, for which our British ancestors were particularly diftinguished in the midst of their rudeness, and which was used in various forms by most of the celebrated nations of the ancient world. Mr. Berenger's account of this machine, has, to use the language of the virtuofi, reftored a piece of antiquity, which, tho'exifting in various fragments in other writers, is hardly to be found any where fo compleat as in this treatife: we fubmit, however, to the writer's own judgment, whether the circumftance that "this island was in the very early ages, planted by colonies from the great commercial nations in the eastern parts Effai fur le Gout. The philofophy of the mind, if fuch as it ought to be, would certainly intereft us more than any other science. Are the fceptical treatises on this fubject interesting? Do they bring conviction to the judgment, or delight to the fancy? Do they either reach the heart, or feem to proceed from it? Do they make us better acquainted with ourselves, or better prepared for the business of life? Do they not rather infeeble and harrafs the foul, divert its attention from every thing that can enlarge and improve it, give it a difrelish for its of the Mediterranean fea," p. 295, is a point of that notoriety to juftify his affuming it, as an undoubted received fact, although fome of these nations did very probably visit it. Our author is undoubtedly an entire master of his fubject; which, as a fcience, he has treated with great knowledge; while, as a writer, he expreffes himself in a clear, elegant, and pleafing ftile. This ftyle is not, however, without fome blemishes. It is perhaps the fondness of his fubject that has led him to an use of the term female fex, which we fufpect is not altogether juftified by ufage, when applied to mares, We believe that the two words taken together, are appropriated to the beautiful part of the human fpecies, and not to be justly applied to any other creature, not even to this noble animal. Each volume is divided into two parts. The first part of the firft vol. treats of the firft ufe of horses, and of the regions moft efteemed by the ancients for producing them. The origin of things that are in common ufe, is, in general, little enquired after; but the philofophic mind finds a gratification in fuch enquiries; and readers of that caft will not be unentertained in following the origin of the faddle, nor even of the fide-faddle, which was, it feems, firft used in King Stephen's time, and continues a proof of English female propriety, fince it is certainly not fo fafe, though a much more delicate mode than that practifed by women of other countries. and the various methods of rearing them in fuch places. The fecond part of the first vol. is a difcuffion of the places now most famous for breeding horfes, The fecond volume is didactic or inftructive, and is very properly divided into chapters, the more conveniently adapted to the particular head of inftruction, whether relative to the horse or the rider. There is a very full hiftory of English horfemanship in the first volume, which is too long for our infertion; but as our reader may probably be best pleased with what more nearly concerns his own country, our extract is a review of the fate of our horses, from the earliest times. "In taking a review of the state of horses in England, from early times to the prefent, they feem to have been divided but into two general claffes, which may be ranged under two distinct periods of time. In the firft æra, as it was an univerfal cuftom for horsemen to fight in armour; the burden was fo heavy, and the fervice fo fevere, that none but large and fout horfes were equal to the tafk; neither, from the badness of the roads, could horfes of a much lefs fize, and inferior ftrength, have been difpenfed with either for journies, or in the cart. It was therefore the conftant endeavour of this na tion to raise fuch a breed as should be able to answer the purposes required of them, inftances and proofs of which have been cited in the foregoing part of this work. This practice began about the time of Henry II. or fomewhat earlier, and continued till towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth ; at which period I bound the firft era, and range under it the firft divifion, or clafs, of horses, univerfally called great. The conftant aim of the legifla S 3 season. About the reign of James, armour being rendered useless by the invention of fire-arms, was laid afide, and the great horse not only ceased to be necessary, but, upon many occafions, became even improper. Lighter and more nimble horfes were therefore brought into ufe; and here begins the ara, which comprehends the second class of horses, called the light or swift breed. legiflature was to ftock the king- to the various cruelties of that dom with horfes of this character; and although it appears to have been difficult in the execution, from the many acts of parliament and proclamations to fupport and enforce it, yet it is not eafy to know from what caufes this difficulty could fo frequently occur; fince, if this country did not naturally produce large or great horfes, itallions and mares of a luftier growth might have been, and were frequently imported from various parts, especially from Flanders, Holland, and Germany; from the horses of which country, the black breed of coach horfes (now worn out) as well as thofe ufed in our troops, which, in many engagements, from their weight and trength, have been almoft irrefiftable, are known to be originally defcended: neither can it be admitted, that England cannot produce large horfes, for the herbage is fo abundant, and the ground fo various, that it can raife horses of the largest ftature, and almoft of any intermediate fize, at the will of the breeder; and it is known that the draught-horfes of Lincolnfhire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and fome other Counties, are the giants of their kind. The duke of Newcastle complains that our horfes are often too big, by reafon of the moisture of the air, and wetnefs of the ground: fo that when the contrary effects appeared, they must have proceeded either from want of judgment in the choice of the mare or ftallion, or both, or from neglect of the foals, in not fupplying them with good and fufficient nourishment in winter, and expofing them in a weak and tender ftate To encourage and promote a race of these horfes, proclamations indeed were not iffued, nor ftatutes enacted; but more powerful methods were adopted, and employed, perhaps, with too muc fuccefs. Public rewards were given, wagers allowed to be risked, and races inftituted; which, from the curiofity they excite, and the pleafure they afford, always draw an incredible number of fpectators, fo as almost to fupply the place of an Olympic triumph to the owner of the victorious fteed; and from thefe concurrent caufes, prove a moft powerful excitement to felfintereft and emulation; too powerful perhaps for the advancement of that plan which they were originally intended to promote: for, as if mere fpeed were the only requifite in an horfe, all other properties and qualities have been facrificed to it; and it is almost incredible to what a degree of fwiftnefs the firft-rate breeds of this kingdom have been trained and wrought up; but, lofing on one hand what they gain on the other, and weakened as refined, they become less ferviceable from the excefs of the very quality which is reckoned their chief recommenda |