exertions of the perfecuted and the persecutors, who would do every thing, that their oppofite interefts could fuggeft, to prove or difprove them. That the reports of miracles faid to be wrought by faints in the dark age will afford a philofopher reafons for believing that, in fome preceding age, miracles had been wrought, and their credit well established. That traditions are to be diftinguished from biflery; and that the books of Mofes, and the hiftory of the Evange lifts, and Acts of the Apostles, were as truly written and published in the age in which the tranfactions were as recent as thofe of Thucydides and Tacitus. "It requires only a due attention to fals, fuch as no perfon, who has any faith in hiftory, can deny, and to the well-known principles of human nature, to perceive this. But few unbelievers in revelation have been difpofed to pay this due attention to either; and, in confequence of this, they verily believe things more extraordinary in their nature, and therefore more truly incredible than the Jewish or the Chriflian" (p. 27). Dots Dr. P. really imagine that his 50 pages will have more effect on the unthinking frantic Frenchmen of his day than all the able defences of Revelation, written by Chriftians of their own and other Countries, against the Libertinage and Scoffs of their hero Voltaire, compared with whom, the Doctor allows Volney and Lequinio to be dwarfs in infidelity? Or is it poffible he should be better able to recall and fix their attention on the Scriptures, after he has garbled them of their most etlential points and doctrines, and lowered them to HIS fandard, by denying their infpiration, or that the doctrines of the trinity, vicarious fuffering, and eternal torments, are to be found. in them? doctrines which he ranks with thofe of tranfubftantiation, ufurpation of temporal power, and perfecution; and that," as he terms it, "moft unnatural union of civil and ecclefiaftical authority in this country, as well as lately with you; from which circumftance alone Religion has been enabled to do much mifchief in the world" (p. 39). But, that he may have all due weight by his writings, he takes care to infert a lift of them, for careful perufal. The Vth and latt letter is addreffed to politicians, to tell them that there is "no connexion between religion and civil government;" religion conLfting of peculiar doctrines and practices, which relate to men perfonally, and not collectively; confidered with refpect to which, no union of force can be of any advantage to them, and the greatest object of it is the happiness of men, not as members of fociety but as individua's, and in a future ftate, to which the power of civil government does not extend (p. 43).Christianity was fupported by the voluntary contributions of the laity to its mi-. nifters; and there was no fuch thing as, tithes, or any thing in the form of a tax for its fupport, for more than 1000 years after the Chriftian æra (p. 45). The Doctor forgets the fuperiority of the zeal of the fir Chriftians to that of their fucceffors in modern times; and how many of his brethren, if he chooses to call any but rational Diffenters his brethren, are ftarving on fcanty incomes, by the decline of the congregations, or by their reluctance or inability to accommodate their doctrines to their itching cars. He forgets too that the very fe iminary established near the metropolis, that fink of corruption and immorality, is falling, for want of fupport from voluntary contributions; and that all he faid in its favour at the Old Jewry, a few years ago, cannot draw forth fupplies from the purfes of the party, to keep alive that grand inftitution, which was to have co-operated with himself in rechriftianizing the world. Is the Dotor fure he has not affumed a commiffion which his Divine Matter gave to no man fince the time of his apofties, not even to his beloved difciple-10 form a new filem of Chriftianity? His doctrine, like his prophecy, is not to be added to, or taken from (Rev. xxii. 18, 19). Hear alfo what St. Paul faith: "Though we (the minitiers of the gofpel) or an angel from heaven preach any other golpel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accurfed" (Gal. i. 8). In conclufion, the Doctor fays, "I do not mean, in these letters, to do any thing more than to fuggeft a few hints, to lead your thoughts to the fubje&t of religion, and its relation to the state, fo as to make it appear as worthy as I conceive it to be of your moft ferious atten tion. In leveral of my publications I have confidered it much more at large. If you with to know which of them I would more particularly recommend to your notice, I would take the liberty to mention my Influutes of Natural and Revealed Religion (with a long &c.) ant my Familiar Letters to the Inbabitanis of Birmaag bam. Why not add his two -- two APPEALS, and the Letters of his worthy coadjutor, Mr. Edwards, who has taken up his mantle as he dropt it in his tranflation from Birmingham to Clapton? With my earnest wishes for your profperity, and efpecially for the fpeedy and happy fettlement of your civil Conftitution, trufling that it will be fa vourable to your best interes, by leading to virtue and happiness (with refpect to which I cannot help confidering religion as of the most eminent ufe), and with fincere gratitude for the honour you have conferred upon me, while in my native country, which I have faithfully endeavoured to ferve, I have found neither protection nor redrefs, I am, your fellow-citizen, J. P. Clapton, Jan. 21, 1793. of the French republick 2."How much more magnanimous would it be in the Doctor to adopt the fentiment of the great Roman when he renounced his country? Ingrata Patria ne offa quidem mea babebis, faid Scipio Africanus, when he retired to Linternum, piqued at the ungrateful return of a people under fuch obligations to him (Val. Max. V. 3). Bat France is not yet fo fate a refidence as England; nor has America charms fuperior to the attachments formed in Great Britain; nor has Dr. P. fpirit enough either to leave his deluded, perfecuting, bigored enemies, or to leave off twitting them with their ingratitude or his own merits. In the cafe of Scipio, we think, there was true magnanimity, as the ingratitude of his countrymen was equally true, and not affumea. Perhaps the Doctor thinks magnanimity is a Roman and not a Chriflian virtue; and that he should never be weary of well-doing, for that in due time he fhall reap if he faint not. 112. Gibbon's Hiftory. Vol. VI. 4to. (Vol. XII. 8vo.) (Concluded from p. 254) AN Hiftorian, determined to write a certain number of volumes, may introduce almoft any thing into them if he allow him felf the latitude Mr. Gibbon has taken in the concluding volumes of his Hiftory. It is oblerved by a tenfib'e critic that Mr. G. has written his own condemnation in paffing cenfure upon Chalcondyles, of whom he fays that "his proper fubject is actually drowned in a fea of epilades" this is very frequently *Though, in his note to the printer of the Morning Chronicle (fee p. 304) he afferts, that patient fuffering is the mark of the trueft courage." GENT. MAG. April 1793. the cafe with Mr. Gibbon's fubject; and aftranger to the work, who fhould accidentally open the hiftory of Tamerlane, with which this part commences, would have little chance of gueffing that he had taken up an Hiftory of the Roman Empire. It is not till we reach the 53d page that we meet with more than an incidental mention of the main fubject. This is certainly exceeding the bounds allowed to digreffion in a very great degree; and, though the matter may be entertaining and inftructive, the introduction of it where it has no bufinefs is not on that account excufeable. A lecture on optics, tolerably delivered, cannot fail to be amusing and ufeful; but who would tolerate it in the midft of a course of botany? fortaffe cupreffum Scis fimulare; quid hoc, fi fractis enatat Navibus, ære dato qui pingitur? [exipes P. 85. 8vo. In the account of Britain, extracted from Chalcondyles, it is curious enough to fee our ancestors accufed of a total difregard of conjugal honour and female chastity, a miflake evidently founded on the innocent practice of faluting on introduction or taking leave. The remark of the Hiftorian on this error is very proper: "Informed as we are of the cuftoms of old England, and affured of the virtue of our mothers, we may fmile at the credulity or refent the injuftice of the Greek, who must have confounded a moleft falute with a criminal embrace. But his credulity and injuftice may reach us an important leifon; to dittruft the accounts of foreign and remote natious, and to fufpend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man." That the extract itself is very ju dicioufly placed in the History is more than we can affirm. P. 130. We here find a material defect in the clearness of the nairative, from the neglect of the author to repeat the general fubject of the patfage, after depatting from it in two intermediate fentences. He is giving the character of the Greek grammarians who taught in Italy. He then fays, " from this character Janus Lafcaris will deferve an exception. His cloquence, politeness, and imperial defcent, recommended him to the French monarchs; and, in the fame cities, he was alternately employed to He then proteach and to negotiate.' seeds directly, Duty and intereft prompted THEM to cultivate the Latin language; language; and the moft fuccefsful attained the faculty of writing and fpeaking with fluency and elegance in a foreign idiom." As the last perfons fpoken of in the plural number were the French monarchs, the reader muft naturally conclude that duty and intereft prompted them to cultivate the Latin language; but, when he has made a progrefs through fome fentences following, he difcovers that the Hiftorian had leaped back with out any notice to his Greek grammarians, and is fp-aking of them. The two fentences relating to Lafcaris fhould be chofely bound up in a parenthefis; or, as that would be still very aukward, the third fentence fhould begin ahus, "Duty and intereft prompted the Greek grammarians," &c. A writer ftudious of elegance in ftyle fhould have perceived and removed this defect. P. 135. The following account is given of pope Nicholas V." If he preffed the acceptance of a liberal gift, it was not as the meafure of defert, but as the proof of benevolence; and when modeft merit declined his bounty, accept it,' he would fay, with a confcioufnefs of his own worth, you will not always have a Nicholas among you." The latter part of the account, which feems to fhew fome tincture of arrogance, is apologized for, in fome meafure, by the fentence thrown in; but it is odd enough that the whole paffage comes in as a proof of his humility of manners; whereas to give profeffedly to difplay the giver's benevo. lence, not to to reward the merit of the receiver, feems yet more arrogant than the felf-praife that follows. The fervices rendered by Nicholas to literature are very properly brought forward to notice here; with a remark that "his fame has not been adequate to his merit." The Medici have certainly enjoyed more than their due fhare of this commendation, to the injury of Nicholas. P. 151. The Hiftorian, who by this time feems to have forgotten his own unjust reflection against Dr. Johnfon, for what he faid concerning the Turks, here fully acknowledges the charge, and puts it in words as ftrong as thofe he had condemned. "To propagate the true religion was the duty of a faithful Muffulman: the unbelievers were his enemies, and thofe of the prophet; and, in the hands of the Turks, the fcymetar was the only inftrument of converfion." It may be obferved that the fentence is caft into the triad formerly remarked, and fo is that which precedes it, 4 and three which follow in the fame paragraph; fo inveterate is the fameness of the author's ftyle. P. 152. A remarkable confeffion of Mr. G. concerning one of the fame faith with himfelf, muft here be noticed. He fpeaks of the abdication of Amurath II. with fome eenfure of his fuperftition, and then fubjoins in a note, Voltaire "admires le Pbilofophe Turk; would he "have heflowed the fame praise on a "Chriftian prince for retiring to a monaftery? In his way, Voltaire was a bigot, an intolerant bigot." This is undoubtedly true, and it is also true that there is univerfally as much bigotry in infidelity as in faith; and the late events in France have proved that there is alfo the perfecuting fpirit, which Religion has long difmited, with thame for having ever entertained it. Amurath was the only fovereign who twice preferred devotion and mortification to empire. P. 175. We approach to the end of this various hiftory; in which, if matter was wanting for the direct fubject, the Hiftorian has made ample amends to himself for this defect of choice, by an unbounded liberty of digreffion. At this place commences the reign of Conftantine Pukeslogus, the laft Greek Emperor; which clofes at the fatal period of the capture of Conftantinople by Mahomet II. p. 231. The account of the laft diftrefs of Conftantine is difgraced by an idle and almoft unmeaning trait of enmity. against the Hittorian's old antagonist, Chrißianity. Conftantine folicited the pardon of all he might have injured; on which Mr. G. makes this extraordinary remark. "This abafement, which devotion has fometimes extorted from dying princes, is an improvement of the gospel doctrine of the forgiveness of injuries: it is more eafy to forgive 490 times than once to afk pardon of an inferior." This vain parade of fixing our Saviour's expreffion, of feventy times feven, by arithmetical calculation, as if any precife number of times was intended, and the fneering intimation that Chriftians abase themselves unneceffarily, by that which, to a gene rous mind, muft feem a free and liberal atonement for offences, are perfectly unworthy of the page of history. The three remaining chapters, the 69th, 70th, and 71ft. are occupied by a review of the State and Revolutions of Rome, from the twelfth, to the end of the fixteenth century, and by a confidera tion of the decay and ruins of the city: thefe certeinly form a nery copious epi logue logue to an Hiftory already completed, but the intereft felt by almost all readers for the fate of Rome, even for its walls and columns excufes the redundancy; and the liftory of the Roman empire, though long removed from Rome, Seems to be properly wound up by the fpectacie of her remains: the propriety, however, is rather feeming than real. Our task is alfo completed; and, without attempting an epilogue, we fhall conclude merely by regretting that in a work where fo much is well executed, there fhould be fo much alfo to condemn. If CANDIDUS, p. 236, thinks the Hiftory of Somerfetfhire comes up even to his idea of a provincial history, he will find himfelf fadly miflaken. If, however, it ferves his purpofe, and his little leifure of confulting it as a Dictio nary, he will be difappointed there, for no Dictionary can be fo full as the feyeral works out of which it is compiled. The particular local accounts of Bath, Bristol, Glaftonbury, &c. fhould all have been fupplied and improved in this new general hiftory. Mr. C's modely and unafuming character has nothing to do with his Antiquarian talents, which alone are the fubject of the objectional critique. Concijenefs is carried too far in this provincial hiftory, and leffens the information which, fhould be conveyed in it. It is truly a work which requires long, and laborious refearches, and has raised greater expectations than it has answered. The comparifon between the Hiflory of Somer. fetfhire and other books alluded to does not hold. I cannot help thinking this letter was written by fome perfon behind the curtain. ONE OF MR. URBAN'S LEGION WE acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Frank's letter. It can make little dif ference in our opinion of Mis. Head's book whether it was intended generally for children, or particularly for her own children arrived at maturity. We acknowledge the good intentions of the writer and of her friendly advocate; but we must be allowed to doubt the ufefulnef of publications in fuch a flyle and form. FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. NUREMBURG. Geographie der Griechen und Römer, &c. Geography of the Greeks and Romans. Germania, Rhoția, Noricum, Pannonia, By Conrade INDEX Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. INDICATORIUS. Errata in the fituations of churches, p. 227. In the plate the figures 21° 12' in the angle PSL, should have been put at S in the other triangle, oppofite 15° 20'; the latitude of Tottenham is 5 deg. 35 min. 59 fec. instead of 51 deg. 32 min. 52 fec.-In the distances from Edmonton church understand feet. P. 219 col. 2, 1. 7, for "happy" read "harpy." Ib. 1. 16, for ❝ a preferment," read "preferment." P. 231, for "fixed air," read "fixed fire." P. 233, for "diaphoretic," read " diaphoretic." Ib. for B. H. read R. H. P. 267, 1. 57, for "marks," read "mocks."' EPINETUS informs 1. C. LXII. 1131, that he may effectually deftroy fnails and lugs if he will cut a few turnips into flices and lay them on the borders of his garden; in the evening he will find the reptiles afhis mercy. fembled on his turnips, and they are then at S.P. having his study and wardrobe much infested with moths, to the great injury of his books and his clothes, will be much obliged to any of our readers for a fimple and effica tious mode of deftroying them. H. S. afks whether Gums will petrify. J. T. afks whence the custom originated of affixing a chequered board as the diftinguishing characteristic of an ale-house. This correfpondent's learned Goofe is not worth retailing. We thank ANTIQUARIUS JUNIUS; but his coins are not wotri engraving. CAPSICUM may be affured that we are fo little interested in the fuccefs of the Theory he mentions that it is to us a matter of the most perfect indifference. His reply to R. H. however, which came too late for this month, fhall appear in our next. We have too much retpect for our readers to infest Mr Toulmia's verfes. "Omne folum forti patria," Edmund Ludlow's motto, enquired after in p. 259, col. 2, occurs in Ovid, Fait. 1. 1. ver. 493. A A CHINESE ODE. HE following literary curiofity is a Ttranflation from the SH1' KING, a great claffical work of the Chinese. It is a panegyric on a prince who died 726 years before She talk'd of Petrarcha her favourite fon, Said Greathead should finish what the bad begun, Then nam'd his two friends; but there Jove ftopt her tongue, the birth of Chrift; fo that the Chinese Or the Goddefs had lengthen'd till midnight poet might have been contemporary with, Hefiod and Homer, or at least must have written the ode before the Iliad and Odylley were carried into Greece by Lycurgus. Behold where yon blue riv❜let glides Along the laughing dale, So fhines our prince; in bright array As pliant hands, in fhapes refin'd, Rich ivory carve and fmoothe, His laws thus mould each ductile mind As gems are taught by patient art In fparkling ranks to beam, What foft yet awful dignity, What meek yet manly grace, So fhires our prince; afky-born crowd T HE following lines were written by Walter Mapes, arch deacon of Oxford, temp. Henry II They are a Droll on the prohibition of Clerical Marriages, and were in answer to fome foolish rhyming verfes made in favour of the celibacy of the clergy fome years before, in the time of Anfelm, promoted to the fee of Canterbury in 1089. Prifciani regula penitus caffatur Sacerdos per Hic et Hæc olim declinatur; O quam dolor anxius,quam tormentum grave, Gignere nos præcepit vetus teftamentum Nomen Papæ. Ad |