forts agreed on, and I was occupied in drawing the country for the general plan, as indeed every day, not otherwife fpecified.

On the 6th of July, the Grand Vizir, in great state, paid General Lord H. a vifit, and afterwards paffed the army in review.

On the 7th of July the army changed their pofition, the right to Metrockbee, and the left to Imbaba, the Corfican Rangers ftill occupying the village of Dockee in front of our left. This change took place merely for the fake of fresh ground.

In the night between the 9th and 10th, the French delivered up Cairo into poffeffion of the British troops, and retired to the Island and Giza, preparatory to their march for Rofetta. I had nearly forgotten to mention a circumstance which redounds to the honor and generofity of the British nation this was the establishment of a mart between the advanced pofts. of the two armies, where they might repair, in order to difpofe of fuck property as it was inconvenient for the enemy to move out of the country. Some jealoufy appearing on the part of the Turks at our having taken poffeffion of Cairo in the night without their knowledge, (a neceffary measure of precaution, to prevent pillage and maffacre by the Turks,) I was dispatched in a great hurry to the officer commanding in Cairo, to prevent the English colours being difplayed till after the entrée of the Captain Pacha, when the British and Ottoman standards were both hoisted at the fame time, under a royal falute. Being chiefly occupied in the numerous arrangements for occupying the town, I had not much leisure this day to make any remarks on it.

On the 11th of July I reconnoitred a route for the march of the armies to Elcouratine.

On the 12th I again went into Cairo to procure fome of the very few comforts it produced. Having done this, I had time to examine what was remarkable, and view the town. This laft is pretty extenfive; but the ftreets are fo narrow as not to admit of more than two horses abreaft, and the houfes ill built. The fquare, or rather Place d'Efbequier, is large, and contains fome houfes belonging to the Beys, which are very fuperior to the rest of the town. A large portion of the houses in this place are a heap of ruins, having been deftroyed by the French in the battle which took place here between them and the Turks in the time of Kleber. The things worthy of remark, are, Jofeph's Well, in the Citadel, of an immenfe depth, and the water from which is raised by three fets of oxen, at different ftations, and which defcend by a paffage winding round the well. The grand mofque, which is fuperior to the generality of buildings in this country; and the Mekias, or Nilometer, of which Savary gives a complete defcription. There are a vaft number of shops in Cairo, fome of them neatly arranged, but containing in general but one article; as all coffee, all fugar, &c. Their fhops, in fact, are only receffes in the street, the floor of which is raised about four feet from its level, and on this the mafter fits smoking, perhaps, crofs legged, according to the cuftom of the country, They, as well as the Italians, afk much more than they mean to take, for the articles they fell.

On the 13th I made the tour of the French works, which are too extenfive to be ftrong: they confift generally of a parapet and ditch, partially pallifadoed, and flanked by small square block houfes at irregular diftances, and which are in part again flanked by an interior line of finall forts of irregular form. A part of this enceinte confifts only of the old

wall,

wall, flanked by fquare jettées. The line extends from the Nile, round Boulac and Cairo to the Citadel; and from Giza to an old burial ground, where there is nothing but a fimple wall towards the defert. The citadel, which is in ruins, commands the town, and all the works near it, but is itself commanded fo decidedly by the heights of Mokattam, that could cannon be conveyed up there, they would foon become untenable. Many people gave it as their opinion, that it would be impracticable to get cannon up there. Had there been occafion to have tried it, I fhould have been of a different opinion. As it was, the French faved us the trouble, by furrendering without firing a fhot.

I fhall defer the march of the armies to my next letter. Believe me, &c. &c. &c.

N. B. The military remarks can scarcely be intelligible without a plan of reference: this will probably be hereafter published, the original being given in to the Commander in Chief.

BISHOP HORNE's LETTERS ON INFIDELITY.

(Continued from Page 149.) /

LETTER IV.

I AM truly concerned, Dear Sir, to hear that your old conftitutional complaint, a depreffion of fpirits, has of late been more than ufually troublesome, and with I may fucceed in the medicine I am going to adminifter, if not for the removal, at least for a temporary alleviation of it.

The famous Dr. Radcliffe was once called in to a perfon almost fuffocated by an impofthumated swelling in the throat. The cafe required immediate relief, and the doctor fent his fervant into the kitchen, to order and bring up a large hafty-pudding. Upon it's arrival, falling into a violent paffion because it was not made to his mind, he flung an handful of it in the fellow's face, who returned the compliment, and an engage ment enfued between them, till the ammunition was all fpent. The fick man, who had been raised in his bed to fee the battle, was forced into a violent fit of laughter; the impofthume broke and the patient recovered.

In the prefent cafe, the philofophy contained in Mr. H-'s pofthumous work, ftyled Dialogues on Natural Religion, fhall be our hafty-pudding; and I will introduce a couple of gentlemen of my acquaintance to tofs a little of it backwards and forwards, for your entertainment-May the effects prove equally falutary!

Á DIALOGUE BETWEEN THOMAS AND TIMOTHY, ON PHILOSOPHICAL

SCEPTICISM.

TIM. Whither away fo faft, man? Where art going this morning? TOM. I am going to be made a Christian.

TIM. The very last thing I should have dreamed of. But pray, who is to make you one?

Tом. David Hume.

TIM. David Hume! Why, I thought he was an Atheist. TOM. The world never was more mistaken about any one man, than about David Hume. He was deemed a fworn foe to Christianity, whereas his whole life was fpent in its fervice. His works compofe altogether a

complete

1

complete Præparatio Evangelica. They lead men gently, and gradually, as it were, to the Gospel.

TIM. As how, TOM? Be pleased to take me along with you.

TOM. Why look you, here is chapter and verfe for you. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, P. 263, "To be a philofophical feeptic, is, in a man of letters, the firft and moft effential ftep towards being a found believing Chriftian."

TIM. When David was at Paris, I have heard, the wits there fhould fay, he was a very worthy gentleman, but had his religious prejudices, like other people. As folks are quick fcented in that country, perhaps they imelled a rat. Indeed, in a Supplement to the Life of Mr. H. we are told, that a brother of his used to say of him, My brother Davie is a good enough fort of a man, but rather narrow minded."-Well, I cannot tell what to say to it; there are abundance of pretty fancies ftirring. I fuppofe there may be different ways of becoming a Chriftian. A man of letters enters, belike, at the back door, and fo goes round the houfe to come at it; a compass which we plain folk do not think it neceffary to take. One thing is certain, that if fcepticism be the road to Christianity, Mr. H. is a very proper person to keep the turnpike gate upon it. But what progrefs muft one make, if one had a mind to try the experiment, in this fame philofophical Scepticism, before one could become a good found believing Chriftian? Muft one doubt of every thing?

TOM. Of every thing, in this world, and that which is to come, as I do myself at this prefent fpeaking. It is the most agreeable process in life; a charming delightful fufpenfe of judgement. I doubt whether there be any fuch thing as matter; I doubt likewife whether there be any fuch thing as fpirit; that is, I doubt whether there be creature or Creator; and whether I myself am any thing more than a bundle of perceptions, without either body or foul. We modern philosophers, you must know, confider matter and spirit as fo much lumber, which fhould be cleared out of the way. There would then be a noble field for fpeculation, and we might all fet out afresh-I doubt, whether the world (fuppofing, for a moment, that there is one) did not exift from eternity, or whether it did not make itself; whether it be not a huge animal, fomewhat like an oftrich, which lays now and then an egg, to be hatched into a young world; or whether it be "As a tree fheds its feed into not an overgrown vegetable, run to feed. the neighbouring fields, and produces other trees; fo the great vegetable the world, or this planetary fyftem, produces, perhaps, within itself certain feeds, which being scattered into the furrounding chaos, vegetate into new worlds. A comet, for inftance, is the feed of a world; and after it has been fully ripened, by paffing from fun to fun, and ftar to ftar, it is at laft toffed into the unformed elements which every where furround this univerfe, and immediately fprouts up into a new fyftem."

TIM. Vaftly ingenious! and really, upon the whole, not improbable!But pry' y'thee Toм, if you are not in too great a hurry to be made a Chrif→ tian, do ftop for half an hour, and inftruct me a little farther in this New Week's Preparation of Mr. H. For the fpecimen you have given me is fo What is exquifite, that it perfectly makes my mouth to water for more. the plan of these famous Dialogues concerning Natural Religion? Toм. You fhall have it in a few words-Once upon a time, then, there was a promifing young man, whofe name was Pamphilus. He was Vol, ÎI, Churchm. Mog. May, 1802. Nn brought

brought up by a philofopher called Cleanthes. Philo, a brother philofo pher, came to spend some days with Cleanthes. The Dialogues are fuppofed to contain the fubftance of a converfation which patled between thefe perfonages, by way, among other things, of preparing young Pamphilus, in a proper manner, for the reception of the Gospel, by firft making him a thorough fceptic. Pamphilus, who, as a hearer only, was to learn and be wife, relates this converfation, in a letter to his friend Hermippus. There is a third speaker in the Dialogues, ftyled Demea, one of your old fashioned orthodox gentry, who both firmly believes the existence of a Deity, and is rather difpofed to speak well than ill of his Maker. But the two philofophers fo aftonish and difcompose him, draw him into so many ambufcades, and raife fo thick a metaphyfical duft around him, that at the close of the xith Dialogue, the old gentleman is glad to take a French leave, and vanishes fo very fuddenly, that whether he went out at the door, or the window, or up the chimney, nobody knows, to this hour. It would do your heart good to fee the fun they make with him.

TIM. Before you go any farther, let me juft afk you one queftion. Pray do you act upon this principle of philofophical scepticism in common life?

Toм. O, by no means. If we did, we fhould walk into a horsepond, or run our heads against a wall, and the boys would laugh at us. No, no, "to whatever length any one may push his fpeculative principles of fcepticism, he must act, and live, and converse, like other men; and for this conduct he is not obliged to give any other reason, than the abfolute neceffity he lies under of fo doing.'

TIM. I think it would be hard upon him if he were obliged to give any other reafon; for abfolute neceflity is an exceeding good one. But what then, is it you are all about, spending your pains in conftructing a system, which you are neceffitated to contradict and proteft againft, every time you go down a ladder, or get over a ftyle. Surely you ought to be set in a corner, with fools-caps upon your heads, like the miffes at a boardingfchool. In the name of common fenfe, what can you mean?

TOM.-It is an amusement-" If a perfon carries his fpeculations farther than this neceffity constrains him, and philofophizes either on natural or moral subjects, he is allured by a certain pleasure and fatisfaction which he finds in employing himself after that manner."

TIM. Suppofe he were to play at pufh-pin, or fpan-farthing, would it not be more to the purpofe? And then he would not difturb his neighbours, But that man's heart muft be as wrong as his head, who can "find a certain pleasure and fatisfaction" in endeavouring to perfuade his fellow rationals, that they are without God in the world. However, if amufenient be the word, let us believers have fome too. If philofophers will amuse themselves with talking nonfenfe, they must give us leave to amufe ourselves by laughing at it. On our fide of the queftion it is poffible to be merry and wife, as well as to do fome little fervice to the world, by fhewing it what ftuff thefe dreams are made of. Come, Toм, you fhall reprefent the genius of philofophical fcepticifm. And now let us hear fome of thofe ftrong reafons which induce you to deny the existence of a deity. TOM. Blefs us! you fhock me! I do not mean to deny the being, but only to philofophize a little concerning the nature of God. TIM. Well, then, be it fo. Philofophize away.

TOM.

Toм. Our reafon, TIM, is very weak-very weak, indeed-we are poor, finite, frail, blind creatures. Our knowledge of the things around us is extremely limited and imperfe&t-we ought to humble ourselves

TIM. There is always mifchief in the wind, when a philofopher falleth down and humbleth himself. But what is your inference from all these lowly confiderations?

TOM. That it is prefumption in fuch worms of the duft to argue about the nature and attributes of God.

TIM. But you will allow poor reason to exercise herself in her own province, and when she is furnished with premises, to draw a conclusion. Toм. Ay, Ay, there is no harm in that.

TIM. When we fee a houfe calculated to answer various purposes of beauty and convenience, and having in it all the marks of wisdom and defign, we know it could not build itself. The fenfelefs materials.could never have prepared and arranged themselves in fuch order. The timber could not dance, cut and fquared, out of the foreft, nor the marble meet it, hewn and polifhed, from the quarry. The houfe therefore must have had a builder. We apply the fame argument a fortiori, to the case of the world, and its Maker, God; and Tully, if I remember right, makes no fcruple to affert, that he who denies his affent to it does not deferve the name of a man. This is the argument called a posteriori, and lies open to the common sense of all mankind. Now, then, let us try the fincerity of that declaration of yours, that "the queftion is not concerning the being, but the nature of God." For if you controvert this argument, you certainly mean to shake our belief in the existence of a Deity. You must of course attempt to fhew, that the world might have been as it is, without one; and if that be the cafe, you will next defy us to prove that there is one.

Tom. Fiat juftitia, ruat cælum. I muft ftick to truth, let what will come of it. I am not bound to answer for consequences. I muft own I look upon the argument to be inconclufive.

TIM. All very well; but why could not you fay fo at firft? What occafion to be mealy mouthed, in an age like this? Now matters are in a train, and we can proceed regularly. What is your objection to the argument? Wherein does it fail?

TOM. It will fail, d'ye fee, if there be not an exact fimilarity in the cafes. You will not fay, that there is an exact fimilitude between the universe and a house, or between God and man.

TIM. Why really, Toм, I never imagined the world had a door and a chimney, like a houfe; or that God had hands and feet, like a man. Nor is it at all neceffary that it fhould be fo, for the strength and validity of the argument, which is plainly and fimply this-If ftones and trees have not thought and defign to form themselves into a house, there muft have been fome one, who had thought and defign, to do it for them; and fo, as I faid before, a fortiori, with refpect to the universe, where the thought and design appear infinitely fuperior to those required in-building a house. We have no occafion to suppose a refeinblance of the univerfe to a house, or of God to man, in every particular.

Toм. "But why felect fo minute, fo weak, fo bounded a principle, as the reafon and defign of animals is found to be upon this planet? What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole univerfe? Our

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partiality