the refolutions of legislature.' He has thrown in, likewife, fome very pertinent obfervations on the means of rendering manufactures cheap; on coins, and the fcarcity of filver money; of the courfe of exchange; and of the bounty on corn: but his difcuffions are extremely brief, fcarcely any thing more than mere hints, thrown out with little regard to order or connection. He is, moreover, so peculiar in his method of pointing, that his meaning is not always eafy to be understood. RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL. Art. 21. Many made righteous by the Obedience of One. Two Sermons, on Rom. v. 19. preached at Biddiford Devon, in the Year 1743. By the late Rev. James Hervey, A. M. Rector of Wefton-Favell with a Preface, by Auguftus Toplady, A. B. Vicar of Broad-Hembury, Devon. 8vo. 6d. Gurney. It is fufficient to fay concerning thefe fermons, that they are in the same strain with the other works of this Author, whofe warm imagination, or fome other cause, led him, fometimes, into fentiments, or methods of expreffion, not perfectly confonant either to reafon or fcripture: but the piety of the man and his fervent benevolence will ever recommend his character and memory to regard, even with those who cannot embrace his opinions. Mr. Toplady prefaces thefe fermons with high encomiums on Mr. Hervey's ftyle; which is indeed very pleafing; but furely he speaks too strongly when he says, With Hervey in their hands, his delighted readers well nigh find themselves at a lofs, which they shall most admire, the fublimity and fweetness of the bleffed-truths he conveys, or the charming felicity of their conveyance.' Certainly, if the truths are important, the reader does not appear to fhew them great regard, who places on a level with them the ftyle and manner in which they' are delivered. Whatever profits may arife from the fale of these sermons, we are affured, will not be appropriated by the publisher to his private benefit, but applied to other purposes. Art. 22. A Vindication of the Athanafian Creed, in Refpect to the ex-. plicit Explanation of the Three distinct Perfons in the Godhead; and of the Incarnation of our Lord Jefus Chrift. By Francis Lloyd, A M. 8vo. I s. Bladon. Incredible as it may feem, we find there is yet living in this enlightened age and country, one clergyman, a perfon of fome fenfe and of a competent fhare of learning, who is, nevertheless, (fuch is the amazing inconfiftency and imperfection of human nature) capable of undertaking a serious defence of this ftrange and justly exploded creed-His name, we fee, is Lloyd, and his preferment is, the rectory of Trotterfcliffe, in Kent. Art. 23. Reflections on the Modern but Unchriftian Practice of Inoculation; or, inoculating the Small-pox tried by Scripture Doctrines and Precepts, and proved to be contrary to the revealed Will of God. By a Friend to Truth. 8vo, 6 d. Keith. 1769. When firft inoculation was introduced here, and began generally to prevail among us, feveral ignorant, or wrong headed, divines, fet themselves to preach and to publish against this falutary practice; inveighing against it, as highly prefumptuous and impious. They were Hh 4 foon foon filenced, however, by the folid arguments of those who were happily convinced of its immenfe utility; and who faw nothing repugnant to it in the facred writings. Whether the tract now before us is one of these unavailing, exploded pieces, reprinted; or whether this be its firft appearance, we know not: but one thing we clearly perceive,-that this pretended Friend to Truth, is a real friend to nonfenfe. He fays inoculation comes not from God, but from Satan.' Truly, the Evil one is not a little obliged to our Author for afcribing to him fo much good: and the multitudes who are duly fenfible of the infinite advantages which mankind have reaped from inoculation, muft, for the future, if they credit this wife Reflector, have a more favourable opinion of Satan, than they have heretofore entertained of him. Art. 24. Confiderations on Differences of Opinion among Chriftians; with a Letter to the Rev Mr. Ven, in Anfwer to his Free and full Examination of the Addrefs to Proteftant Diffenters, &c.*' By Jofeph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. 8vo. 1 s. 6d. Johnfon and Payne. The first part of this treatise contains an excellent diffuafive against an obftinate attachment to controverted tenets in religion, and what men call orthodoxy; against the too prevailing practice of studying controverfial writings more than the Bible; and against uncharitablenefs toward those who differ from us in matters of opinion. It is to be feared, however, that by connecting thefe liberal fentiments with an addrefs to Mr. V-, he has only caft his pearls before — those who will turn again and rend him. In the fecond part, our Author animadverts, in a very becoming manner, on Mr. V.'s Answer to the Addrefs. If Mr. V. be well advised, he will here let the controverfy drop: unless, becoming a convert to Dr. P. candour, and a pious regard to truth, fhould prevail on him to publish his conviction. But when do we see difputants acting in this manner? Alas! it is not, we fear, to be expected, while pride and paffion continue to maintain the influence they have hitherto held over the human mind! POETICA L. Art. 25. The Battle of Minden, a Poem, in Three Books. By Sidney Swinney, D. D. Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. Enriched with Critical Notes by Two Friends, and with Explanatory Notes by the Author. 4to. Ios. 6 d. Dodfley, &c. 1769. The first thing that appears upon opening this book is, that the Author raifed fubfcriptions for it under conditions which he neither has fulfilled, nor intends to fulfill. He promifed a plan of the battle of Minden, and feveral engravings by Strange and Grignion. The reafon he affigns for difappointing his fubfcribers in this particular, is only that he would not have got fo much money by fulfilling his promife, as he gets by breaking it. To make fome atonement for this, he propofes to prefent his fubfcribers with three books instead of one. One only, however, is yet publifhed, and we fhall foon see what advantage the fubfcribers are likely to derive from having two more. See Review for Sept. p. 225. The The first fix verfes afford a fpecimen both of the poem and the notes, which will fufficiently determine the merit of both: Father Omnipotent! whose nod fupreme Whose pow'rs are languid, and whose taik is hard. NOTE. "We cannot but be of opinion, without the leaft adulation, (which we hope to approve ourselves above in the following ftrictures,) that this exordium is great, folemn, and truly poetical. It fomewhat refembles Milton's invocation in the first book of his Paradife Loft. "That poet has alfo fomething fimilar to it elsewhere; and, afterwards, does not fcruple to call upon Urania, one of the pagan deities, to infpire him." This l'oet alfo, without fcruple, joins the Almighty, and feraphs, with pagan deities: We fwear, fays he, to celebrate all who fell at Minden: -Would the Almighty deign To hear his fuppliant, nor to hear in vain. And gently touch'd him with their magic wand. This, as to the mixture of paganism with revelation, is a much nearer imitation of Milton than the exordium, yet of this the annotators take no notice. They have alfo neglected to remark, that though Swinney has adopted Milton's perfonification of Chaos, yet, to affert his prerogative as an original writer, he has totally differed from him in the characteristics of that imaginary being. Milton reprefents him as "holding eternal anarchy, amidst the noife of endless wars, and fubfifting by confufion." Swinney, as in a state of torpid inactivity; fleeping with fuch a native propenfity to reft, in mind as well as body, that his very dreams are fluggish. There is a qualification which the Spectator fomewhere calls a modeft affurance; this must certainly be a compound of affurance and modefty. Dr. Swinney seems to have put in his claim to both; in the paffage juft quoted we fee his affurance. He tells us, that he is the nurfling of the mufes and the graces, that they have taken him by the hand, and communicated to him a portion of their divine energy and eafe by a magic touch.' Immediately afterward, He grieves that no indignant bard This was certainly intended as a teftimony of his modefty; but his modefty and affurance are not mixed, they do not concur to produce one fentiment; these paffages can no more coalefce than oil and wa ter; ter; for if he is an inferior poet whom not only the mufes but the graces infpire, what is it that gives fuperiority? Dr. Swinney, indeed, whoever he has invoked, feems to have been wholly under the influence of pagan deities, for he represents thunder as levelled against the gospel, in defence of which nobody stood up but the king of Pruffia: Juftice bids us fing Of dubious faith, of ftudied disrespect, Better things might have been expected from a Chriftian divine, who feems however to be as ignorant of the Old Teftament, as he is negligent of the New. He reprefents David after having put off Saul's armour, as killing, not a fingle giant called Goliath, but ten thousand men with a fling and a stone. The whole paffage is curious. Thus when the Lord's annointed did invest He flew ten thousand with a fling and stone. But it is now time we thould acquaint our Readers that, except in the title page, there is not one fyllable concerning the battle of Minden in this publication. It relates no military action but the affair of Berghen, in which the hero of the poem, Prince Ferdinand, was beaten : with respect to public events it it lefs than a Gazette in rhime, yet in other refpects it is more, it gives an account of the Author's pulling three Frenchmen from a hay-loft by the heels, and of his attendance upon a black trumpeter that died for love. The hiftory of this trumpeter, and of his unhappy paffion, as it forms a kind of epifode, may be detached from this work without losing any of its beauty or force: it is only neceffary to premife that the Author folicited the permiffion of Count de Gondola, bishop of Paderburn, to marry the trumpeter to his inamorata, but without fuccefs: Or ere he march'd, Euphrenus tends the call As the fond fhepherd tends his dying lamb, There There the fow-gelder's art and trade he learn'd, Reft, Ofmin, reft! well shall thy fuff'rings here Upon this episode, furely, no critical remarks can be expected. Upon the whole, this performance, without the cuts promifed, printed only on one fide, the other being referved for notes, which might all be printed in 6 of the 37 pages left for them, is one of the molt fhameful impofitions we have ever feen. It is, befide, a mere rhapfody of incongruous images, and barbarous language, without order or connection, poetry or sense. Art. 26. Elegy written at Amwell, in Herefordshire. MDCCLXIX. 4to. Printed by Dryden Leach, for the author *. We have lately met with feveral very pleasing productions, in this fweet and melancholy walk of poetry; for which the reader may turn to the volumes of our Review for the two or three laft years. We will not fay that there is more of poetry in this elegy, than in Lord Lyttelton's Monody, or of paffion than in Shaw's †, or of the harmony of numbers, than in the verses written at Sandgate Caftlet, but there is in it that beautiful strain of genuine fimplicity, which is nature's trueft elegance. The affecting occurrence which produced this poetic effufion of tenderness, is communicated to the Reader in the following ftanzas ; after a short introduction, in which the Poet defcribes his favourite plan of private life, his fequeftered and peaceful fituation, and his happy connection with the fair partner of his rural retirement: Foe to the futile manners of the proud, He chofe an humble Virgin for his own: Not advertifed for fale. + See Review for Nov. 1768, Ditto, Dec. 1768. Her |