interruptedly handed down from generation to generation; appealed to by both the friends and the enemies of the doctrines which they contain; and cited by writers of all ages, even the earliest, fince their publication, in a manner which fhows that they have always been fuch, or very nearly fuch, as we find them at prefent. Nay, further, notwithstanding they have been multiplied by manufcript beyond any other book in the world; which would of courfe occafion fome errors; and notwithstanding the industry of modern critics has actually discovered many thousand various. readings, arifing from thefe numerous tranfcriptions; the authenticity of thefe writings is in no wife affected, and the uniform tenour of their doctrine in no wife altered. The consequence is, that we muft either difpute all ancient history, or admit the autho rity of the New Teftament. P. 13.

We have before teftified our refpect for this writer, a moft respectable member of the, Society of Friends, and fhall be happy to do fo again

ART. 24. A Vindication of Unitarian Worfbip, a Sermon preached on Sunday, Nov. 4. 1810, on Occafion of the opening of the New Gravel Pit Meeting Houfe, Hackney. By Robert Afpland. Johnfon. 1810.

Mr. Afpland undoubtedly appears in this difcourfe to have taken fome pains to vindicate the feparation of his affociates. from the Established Church in terms of charity, and we are in no manner inclined to question the right of any to depart from us, upon fuch grounds as Mr. Afpland mentions p. 25. that is, where they think their "compliance would be finful, though they may pibly err in their non-conformity."-Mr. Afpland will not expect us to admit that the Unitarians do not err in their nonconformity; we do cordially believe their errors to be as great, as any of those that they charge upon us, that is, as important. They accufe us of adding to the fcriptural doctrines, and we accufe them of deducting from them. We should be forry, fuppofing our tenets correct, to have any taken from us, by this fermon before us, becaufe we could eafily point out to our readers, if our limits would admit, and the occafion feemed to call for it, abundance of grofs mistakes, in the reprefentation given of the doctrines of the establishment. Our belief is, that Mr. Afpland, does not mean to mifreprefent matters, but that he really thinks, we are all as blind and ftupid, as he defcribes us to be, and that our errors are downright abfurdities and contradictions.--Yet even in his own difcourfe, he names certain celebrated members

"A various reading is, where a word is not alike in all the manufcript copies. As thefe manufcripts are in Greek, many of them would be uninterefting to an English reader. The learned Michaelis fays, that the most important relate, in general, to fubjects that have no connection with articles of faith,"

of

of the Church in terms of fuch refpect, that we hope we may be at least allowed to shelter ourselves under their protection. Mr. Afpland cannot expect us to be much alarmed as to the charge of aurdity and fanaticism, when he reminds us of fuch fellow-believers, as Bishop Taylor, Mr. John Hales, and Chillingworth. Mr. Afpland's compliment to the tolerant principles of his majefty, and the general fpirit of his government, fince he came to the throne, does him honour, and the delicate allufion to his prefent" domeftic calamities," is highly creditable to his feelings.

ART. 25. Reflections on the Shortness of Time. A Sermon fuggefted by the general Mourning for her Royal Highness the Princefs Amelia, and delivered at the Octagon Chapel, Bath, on Sunday, Nov. 11, 1810. By John Gardiner, D. D. Bath. pp. 26. Rivingtons.

We can easily believe that this Sermon might have had confiderable effect in the place where, and upon the occafion on which it was delivered. The fable and funereal appearance of fo diftinguished a congregation, as the Octagon Chapel at Bath is generally known to contain, muft have been peculiarly ftriking, and have naturally led to fuch reflections as the text fuggefts; (1 Cor, vii. 29.) as well as to a tender fympathy in the melan choly event which occafioned it. Dr. Gardiner has managed to place both thefe circumftances in a strong point of view, but the difcourfe is not otherwise remarkable for much novelty of remark, or any great purity of ftyle; as a temporary effufion it may de ferve fome praife.

JUBILEE SERMONS.

ART. 26. England's Caufes for Thankfulness during the Reign of George the Third; or their much-loved King an Example to Britons: A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, on Wednesday, October 25, 1809; being the Day of Public Praife and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, on His Majefty's Entrance into the Fiftieth Year of his Reign. By the Rev. N. Hollingworth, A. M. Vicar of Haltwifle in the County of Northumberland; perpetual Curate of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, &c. &c. A new Edition, enlarged. 12mo. 47 PP. IS. Durham, printed; London, Rivingtons, &c. 1810.

We approach now very nearly to the bottom of our collection on this fubject. The very loyal author of this difcourfe fays, in his preface, that the fubject of it has by no means been regarded or treated by him as of a mere temporary nature; "and an increafed confideration of it," he adds, "has led me the more to

Tt 4

wish

wifh that its feveral topics may be deeply impreffed upon the memories of my parishioners and countrymen, and upon their hearts. Sincerely do I defire, that, when our prefent venerable Monarch fhall leag fiace!ave ceased to reign, and the author of this Sermon thall have been long forgotte, England's Caufe for Thankfulness to the God of marions, during the left half century, efpecially in the mild and gentle, the pious, and benevolent reign of its prefent Sovereign may be retraced, with grateful adoration, by car children's children." P. vi.

Thefe excellent fentiments are fuitably illustrated by a very clear and copious ftatement of particulars in the difcourse itself; which in its former lefs extended edition never met our confideration.

ART. 27. The Jubilee, a Source of Religious Improvement. A Sermon, preached at Worship Street, Firfbury Square, Wednesday, October 25,1809, being the Fiftieth Anniverjury of the Reign of George the Third. By John Evans, Morning Preacher at Wor fhip Street, and Afternoon Preacher, Leather Lane, Holborn. Svo. 36 pp. 15. Sherwood and Co. 1809,

:

Of the zeal of this formon, an idea may be formed from this paffage Let then the lengthened reign of a venerable earthly monarch, who has attained to the age of man, elevate our thoughts to the illuftrious reign of the MESSIAH, which endures till the confummation of all things." P. 2. God forbid that we fhould object to the piety of a preacher, who prefers contemplating the reign of the heavenly king, to that of any earthly monarch; the preference is moft juft. But why then call it a Jubilee Ser. mon? In this difcourfe, of 36 pages, only five at most are given to the difcuffion of its profefled topic. All the reft is proper, certainly, in any chriftian congregation, but had no more to do with that day, than with any other. With respect to the character of the king, the author briefly mentions his perfonal and domeftic virtues, and his defire to diffufe education. The reft relates only to the indulgences granted to diffenters, with a wish that they were greater, and a wifh for peace. From that place to the end, our Saviour alone is celebrated: properly and well, we grant, but with no reference to the occafion,

MISCELLANIES.

ART. 28. Green Room Gaffip; or Gravity Gallinipt: a Galli. mawfry, confifting of theatrical Anecdotes, Bon Mots, Chit-chat, Drollery, Entertainment, Fun, Gibes, Humour, Jokes, Kickbars, Lampoons, Mirth, Nonfenfe, Oratory, Quizzing, Repartee, Stories, Tattle, Vocality, Wit, Yawning, Zeft. Got up to guile Gymnaftipl and Gyneocratic Governments. With an Appendix of grave

Subjects.

Subjects. Gathered and garnished by Gridiron Gobble, Gent. Godfon to Mother Goofe. Given in Gimmal under Guidance of J. Barker, Dramatic Repofitory, Ruffel Street, Covent Garden. 12mo. 184 pp. 35. 6d. Barker. 1809.

We have no doubt that this is literally what its title profeffes, "Green room Goffip," collected by fome underling of the theatre; who though he can relish a good joke when ready made, has no better notion of making one himfeif, than by tricks of alliteration, alphabetical lifts of topics, and fuch mechanical contrivances.

That many of the ftories are comic, and many of the witticisms good, cannot be denied, but too many of the latter were anticipated by that helluo of bon-mots, Joe Miller. Had the compiler poffeffed any notion of chronological arrangement, a fort of comic hiftory of the ftage might have been formed from the fame materials; but he feems to have been equal to nothing, but collecting ftage anecdotes wherever he could find them, and amaffing them in a common place book, which he has literally printed as it flood. One good anecdote, from fuch a ftore, may be a fufficient fpecimen.

"Charles Bannifter going into a paftry cook's fhop with Parfons, the latter was very curious in examining an electrical cel, (probably an advertisement for one to be fhown) and enquired of Charles what fort of a pie he thought it would make? who answered a Shocking one." P. 45.

The story immediately preceding this, is alfo rather spoiled in the telling, but is genuine and good. It is of a well known wit, who, when Mrs. Billington appeared in Love in a Village, being asked whether that was Rojetta, replied, "No, I believe it is Grand Cairo." This, the author has thought it necessary to explain for his readers; but we do not pay ours fo ill a compliment.

Like other collections of the fame kind, this has fome ftories that ought to have been omitted, fome that are ill told, fome ungrammatically expreffed, but few that may not occafion a laugh, in the Green room. What is fo wittily called an appendix of Grave fubjects is no other than a collection of epitaphs on actors and actreffes. As a fingular accommodation to such a mifcellany, this is furnished with an index of names.

ART. 29. A Dictionary of Anecdotes: chiefly Hiftorical, and illuftrative of Characters and Events, ancient and modern. Drawn from genuine Sources, and fyftematically arranged accord. ing to the respective Subjects. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 16s.

Simpfon, &c. 1809.

The French have long had a "Dictionary of Anecdotes," but it does not appear that this is at all unfairly borrowed from it. There is not even so much resemblance as might naturally be ex.

pected,

pected, where the titles coincide. Thus, under ACTING, we de not fee a fingle article borrowed from ACTEUR, in the French book. Under AMBASSADOR we might ftill more expect them to coincide, but even there we find only the ftory of John Bafilowitz and Jeremy Bowes, whom the French author calls Bofe; and as the fubject of the anecdote is an Englishman, it certainly ought not to be omitted in an English compilation. As far as we have been able to compare the two, the English is the preferable book: but though the compiler tells us, that he has drawn his anecdotes from genuine fources, he has not regularly referred us to those fources, which the French author has done; and which certainly ought not to be omitted. Under the article AVARICE, the compiler is extremely profufe in his anecdotes of the famous Mr. Elwes, nearly the whole of whofe history, as printed by Topham, he incorporates into his book.

We cannot make fuch a book known by felecting fpecimens from it, but we may enliven our own by taking one, which shall be of a literary nature, the fubject being a famous English translator.

"The induftrious Philemon Holland, who was a schoolmafter and a phyfician, produced feveral voluminous publications, par ticularly tranflations of Pliny's Natural Hiftory, and of Cam. dens' Britannia, both in folio. On completing the former work he compofed the following lines:

With one fole pen I writ this book,

Made of a grey goofe quill:

A pen it was, when I it took,

A pen I leave it ftill." Vol. i. p. 190.

A fimilar anecdote of Dr. Ferdinando Warner is fubjoined. Of fome perfon who boafted of fuch an inftance of parfimony, the famous Lord Chesterfield obferved, not very unjustly, that he had "a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar cruet.'

ART. 30. Scripture Geography in Two Parts, containing a Defcription of the most diftinguifbed Countries and Places noticed in the Holy Scriptures, with a brief Account of the remarkable historical Events connected with the Subject, intended to facilitate the Study of the Holy Bible to Young Perfons, for the Use of Schools and Families; and illuftrated with Maps; by John Toy, private Teacher of Writing, Arithmetic and Geography. Large Octavo. 6s. Scatcherd and Co. 1810.

We confider this book as filling up a defideratum in the clafs of books published for the inftruction of youth, and therefore warmly recommend it. It is of much importance that geogra phical knowledge fhould accompany that of the facts recorded in the Scriptures, as by this they are rendered more interefting, and receive indeed confiderable illuftration. Thoufands read of the children of Ifrael, and their wandering for forty years in the wil

dernefs,