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Sermons by the late Dr. J. Paterfon.

and when that principle ceased to operate, it was kept faft together by a dread of the French. The Hollanders have, at the present moment, greater cause of dreading the designs of France, than ever they had at any former period: but as they do not fee their danger, they conceive themselves to be at liberty to amufe themselves by internal difcord, and juftify the definition of the politician jat quoted. The preffure of fear being removed, the different parts that were bound together by this central stone begin to loofen, and to be threatened with diffolution. It appears that the Stadtholder, very naturally and very wifely, courts the old friends of his family, the people: and it also appears that he has a ftronger party on his fide, among men of diftinction and opulence, than was generally imagined. It is fcarcely credible that the commotions in Holland can be quieted without fome convulfion. And from prefent appearances, it is probable, if matters fhould be brought to an iffue foon, that that iffue would

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ftrengthen the hands of the Stad tholder. With the poffeffion of the executive government, and fo large an authority and influence in moulding the ftates with the favour of the populace, and that of the courts of Berlin and London, the Prince of Orange muft be greatly wanting to himself, if he does not maintain the conftitutional and just rights of his family; rights not more precious to him than falutary to his country; for the arbitrary proceeding: of the ftates and the magiftrates of certain cities, fhow what the people of the United Provinces have to expect, if ever the fupreme power of the ftate fhould pafs wholly into the hands of an aristocracy.

PORTUGAL.

THE profound filence that is obferved with regard to the death of his most faithful majelty, and the character and views of the regency that has fucceeded, for a time, to his authority, marks the prefent infignificance of the kingdom of Portugal.

Sermons, by the late Reverend Dr JAMES PATERSON, one of the Clergymen of St Paul's English Epifcopal Chapel in Aberdeen, 8vo, Elliot Elin. and Robinfon London.

To these fermons is prefixed an

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advertisement, from which we learn that they are published for the benefit of the author's family, which appears to have been left in circumftances rather diftreffing. If these circumftances,' fays the editor, fhall be rendered in any degree more easy by the fale of the volume which is now offered to the public, no injury will be done to the memory of a man, who, to serve a benevolent purpose, would at any time have facrificed all pretenfions to fame as an author; and to thofe readers who pof

fefs that benevolence of heart which fo ftrongly marked his character, any apology for a work published with fuch a view is furely unneceffary: By fuch men the following difcourfes, were they much lefs accurate than they are, would be perused with indulgence, and they do not claim their applause.

Upon a publication of this kind, ufhered into the world with a preface fo modeft, what critic would be fevere, were there even room for severity? But that is not the cafe: On the contrary, we will venture to say, Bb 2

that

that the whole volume will be perufed with fomething more than indulgence; and that many of the difcourfes, although they do not claim, certainly deferve, and will, we have no doubt, obtain very high applaufe, In refpect of the beauties of compofition, they would indeed lofe by a comparifon with the correct and highly finished ftyle of a Blair, or the fplendid and flowing diction of a White; but with thefe writers, in their different walks, where is the preacher to be found who would bear to be compared ?

The difcourfes before us, we are informed, were not by their author prepared for the prefs. If from that circumftance they want fomething of the polish of which they are fufceptible, they gain in what is perhaps a greater excellence in a pulpit effay-eafe, and animation. Indeed we know few fermons, if any, in which the practical and momentous truths of the gofpel are inculcated in a more eafy and animated ftyle, or from which the pious Chriftian is likely to reap greater pleafure or grater benefit. The volume contains twenty-four difcourfes on the following fubjects: The great nefs of falvation, and the danger of neglecting it; comforts of religion; good example; the danger of inconfancy in religion; the advantages to be reaped from adverfity; the parable of the prodigal fon; the life of Chrift as propofed for our imitation; the parable of the Pharifee and Publican; the attention to fpiritual things; the neceffity and advant: ges of confeffing Chrift; the unhappiness neceffarily confequent upon every fin; foth in our temporal and fpiritual concerns; advantages of early piety; on death; and on a confcience void of offence.

Of our author's manner of treat ing thefe important topics, take the following specimens from the first and feeend fermons, Speaking of the for

givennefs of fins preached through Jefus Chrift, and of our being by him juftified from all things from which we could not be juftified by the law of Mofes, the preacher pro ceeds thus ;- But the falvation

purchafed by the Redeemer is ftill greater. They who embrace our holy religion, and with faith and perfe verance obferve its heavenly precepts, fhall not only receive the forgivennefs of God, and be exempted from the punishment of fin, but rife triumphant from the grave, and enjoy an immortality of happiness in heaven. This happy affurance doubles the joy of health, cheers the bed of fickness, and deprives even death of its terrors. Difeafes may prey upon us, pain torment, the world may perfecute, and our friends deceive and defert us; ftill we know"that light is fown for the righteous, and gladnefs for the upright in heart." In that bleffed place dwells neither grief, nor fickness, nor pain; but joy and tranquillity reign for ever, This is fecured to us by the word of eternal truth; for "life. and immortality are brought to light by the gofpel.". -Though all other religions taught to expect a state of future exiftence, they fupported. it by no proof, and their defcriptions of it were in the highest degree abfurd: the heaven of a Chriftian is the heaven of a rational intelligence. We are not conducted to the volup tuous bowers of Mahomet, and the enjoyments of fenfual impurity; we are not wafted to the fields of Elyfium, where ftrength entered before innocence of heart; "but we look for a new heaven, wherein dwelleth righteousnefs." There enter the fon who honours his father, and the father who loves his fon; the beart that never knew avarice, and the hand that never did violence; the mouth that never uttered flander, and the fpirit that loves integrity. They dwell not there, who, to

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Dr Adam's Rudiments of the Latin Grammar.

fatíate ambition and glut revenge, have laid cities in afhes; and, to be fpoken of, have made many widows: but it is the habitation of the friendly, the compaffionate, and the devout.'

In the fecond fermon, the real Christian, after being contrafted with the morofe and hypocritical devo tee, is thus characterised:-- A Chriftian is the best father, the best brother, and the best friend: his language agrees with his thoughts, and his actions give the true picture of both. You may fafely commit unnumbered treasures to his charge, for his confcience is a nicer judge than your eye; and he will account to the children for the depofit which the dying father put into his hands,

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though no witnefs can fay he recei ved it; and his character is fafe on all hands. Such is the effect of true religion! If I am to be a fervant, let a religious man be my mafter; let a religious man be the owner of my houfe, the companion of my table, and the keeper of my fecrets; let him be in the fame fhip with me at fea, let him face the enemy with me at land; let him be the witness of my death, and the guardian of my children.'

From thefe extracts the reader will form an eftimate of Dr Paterfon's tafte; and we beg leave earneftly to recommend his fermons to all who are friends to practical religion, and who delight in acts of beneficence.

The Rudiments of Latin and English Grammar, by ALEXANDER ADAM, L. L. D. Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. Third edition.

THE author informs us in his advertisement prefixed to this edition, that it contains feveral improvements. Thus, in etymology, under the different terminations of nouns and verbs, are enumerated in alphabetical order, not only all the fimple and primitive words of the Latin tongue, but also the most common derivatives and compounds, with their fignification, gender, declenfion, conjugation, and quantity, carefully marked; fo that the learner may fee the various accidents of each word at once, without being obliged to confult different books for that purpofe; or in the fame book, to turn to one place for the gender of a noun to another place for its declenfion, and to a third for its quantity."

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pofitions, and of those phrafes which occafion moft difficulty to learners, collected from the claffics, and from the beft writers on Latinity.'

The following improvement, mentioned by the author upon the common plan of Latin grammars, seems a very material one.

By the natural division of words and fentences into fimple and compound, no rule or example is introduced in fyntax or profody, till the learner is properly prepared, by what goes before, to understand it; which is not the cafe in the Latin Grammars commonly used: where, not to mention other inftances, the conftruction of the relative, which requires a previous acquaintance with moft of the other rules of conftruction, is placed near the beginning of fyntax; and, what appears ftill more prepofterous, in profody, the rules concerning the quantity of compounds are placed before those concerning the quantity of fimple

words.'

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words.' Thefe improprieties in arrangement occafioning,' fays the author, greater inconveniences to learners than is generally imagined.' The prefent publication likewife contains an account and explanation of the various tropes and figures of words and thoughts which occur in the claffics: And an appendix is fubjoined, containing a large catalogue of Latin words, all of claffical authority, which have been adopted into the English with little or no variation, and cannot be properly understood in English without, understanding the Latin.'

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In the whole of the grammar, the author tells us, that he has fpared no pains to make the tranflation of Latin words and phrafes fubfervient to the knowledge of English; and he hopes that the feveral improvements will be found of fome importance in the plan of education.

The intention of Dr Adam is highly laudable; and the execution of the work appears to be such as is fully fitted to answer the ends propofed, of connecting the English grammar with the Latin; and thus to facilitate and promote the ftudy of both. The grammar of Mr Ruddiman's is a first rate performance; and fuch as might have been expected from fo great a fcholar: But, with all its excellence, it is by no means a proper guide for leading the untutored mind into the first rudiments of the Latin tongue. It feems much better fitted for thofe who, after being founded in the first principles, and obtaining a general knowledge of the language, wish to purfue it through all its windings and labyrinths, in the walks of a college, or the retirement of private tudy. And, accordingly, the whole of Ruddiman's grammar is never attempted to be taught to boys; the teacher always making fuch felections as he pleafes. A grammar, therefore, like that of Dr Adam,

which borrows from Mr Ruddiman, and other grammarians of eminence, whatever is adapted to the capacity of boys; and which, thus, instead of frightening them from the path of literature by the difficulties they have to furmount, allures them by rendering the road more easy; mult be confidered as a valuable acquifition to the plan of education. Nor is it a lefs ufeful acquifition to the teacher than to the learner, who is thus provided, with a proper felection of what he would be otherwife obliged to take at random from the grammar of Ruddiman as adapted to his fcholars.

Dr Adam has difplayed great judgment both in what he retains of Mr Ruddiman's grammar and what he has omitted. Nothing can be more ufeful to the learner, provided he be not overwhelmed with it, than accuftoming him by degrees to repeat, while he understands them, the rules which govern the Latin language in that language itself. The rule is more eafily retained, and in learning the rule, he learns the language. De Adam has, accordingly, for this purpose, preferved the most necessary rules of Ruddiman's grammar,

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In animadverting upon a work which is the production of the Rector of the High School of Edin. burgh, a native of this country can, not poffibly refrain from congratu, lating his fellow-citizens upon the diftinguished rank which this fchool has attained, especially of late years, and under the manangement of the prefent Rector. The number of fcholars has been of late greatly increafed; and their proficiency, as the first judges of literature in this coun, try have witneffed, has been increa, fed in proportion. The fame of this fchool has attracted scholars from England, and even from the metro. polis itself. This is a circumstance, not only of celebrity to our country, but muit be estimated highly by

those

Letter concerning Robertfon's Hiftory of Greece.

those who look no farther than to the advantages arifing from the influx into the capital of Scotland, of thofe families who throng it from all quarters for the purpofe of educating their children. The merits of Dr Adam's grammar, which he has long taught in that fchool, and

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which, for the fake of the country, and the intereft of reviving ancient literature in Scotland, it is to be hoped he will yet live long to teach, are more fully displayed by thefe facts than they could be by any ftudied panegyric of the most zealous friend. X.

Copy of a Letter which has been fent to the Publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine.

SIR, TODAY, for the first time, a friend pointed out to me, in your Magazine for July laft, p. 562. an article figned Detector; in which the writer afferts, that a work called the Hiftory of Greece, by William Robertfon, Efq; Keeper of the Records in Scotland, and of which a third edition is now in circulation, is a mere tranflation, without acknowledgment, from the celebrated Abregé de Hiftoire Grecque, Paris 1770, and other years.'

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In answer to this charge, it is material to obferve, that the first edition of the book, of which the third edition is now, as this gentleman expreffes it, in circulation,' was printed at Edinburgh, and entered in Stationer's Hall in the year 1768. It is rather unaccountable, therefore, that a book publifhed in the year 1768, fhould have proved a mere tranflation of one publifhed at Paris in 1770. This I believe might be regarded by the public as a fatisfactory refutation of the charge exhibited against me by your anonymous correfpondent: but juftice to myfelf as well as to the public, requires that the matter fhould be stated a little more fully.

I request, therefore, the particular attention of your readers to the two following quotations: In the preface to the first edition of the hi

Edin. 14th Sept. 1786,

ftory in queftion, I write thus:

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Accordingly, Mr Rollin's own countrymen, the members especially of the fame learned body to which he himself once belonged, namely, the univerfity of Paris, seem to have been the first who became fenfible of the inconveniences attending his learned work, and expreffed their wifhes, that fome compilement of the Greek history were made on a plan better adapted to the genius and cir cumftances of the generality of ftu. dents. Agreeably to these fentiments of the univerfity of Paris, and with the approbation and affistance of fome of its members, fuch a compilement was made out and published at Paris in the year 1763. The hiftory of the ancient Greeks is there brought under one connected view, unperplexed with that of any o ther people; the tranfactions of the Perfian empire being taken notice of, fo far only as they immediately influence thofe of Greece; and the principal events refpecting Sicily being thrown into a book by themselves. Many little circumftances obferved by Mr Rollin are there omitted; all the interefting facts are placed in a clear light, and made to fpeak directly to the understanding; pertinent reflections are judicioufly, but fparingly, interfperfed; the most con fpicuous perfonages are elegantly characterifed; and concife, but juft

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