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The profeffed defign of this work is, to check the progress of ir religion, infidelity, and popery, by a review of the lives of the most eminent perfons in the protestant churches, from the beginning of the reformation to the prefent day. It may be fafely faid,' this compiler obferves, that nothing has contributed fo much to the reception of impious and fuperftitious tenets among us, as the fpiritual darkness of our prefent enlightened age, which indeed has made great improvements in the knowledge of every thing but one-and that is, the one thing needful. Our youth are trained up according to the fashion, in the ignorance and contempt of every thing facred; and no man is allowed either fenfe or difcretion, unless he is quite at eafe with respect to religion, and indifferent to the great concerns of eternity.'

Should the features in the above picture be thought too strong, it muft ftill be acknowledged, that it bears but too ftriking a refemblance of the original. Fox's Acts and Monuments is one principal fource from whence the materials of this work are collected. This book of Fox's, it is obferved, was formerly ordered, by authority, to be placed in every church, that the people of the feveral parishes in the kingdom might be led to a thorough deteftation of the principles and practices of the Papifts. Mr. Middleton regrets, that this order, like many others, is become obfolete; but he hopes that his compilation may, in fome degree, contribute to fupply that neglect. He wishes it to be confidered as a family book, to be put into the hands of youth for their information and profit. This first volume confifts of 520 pages, and the print is not large; fo that the price of the work may be reckoned fmall, in proportion to the quantity, and to the number of the engravings,-which are confiderable orna-, ments to it.

Art. 41. Effays Moral and Religious; or, God manifeft in his
Works. 12mo. I S. Goldney. 1779.

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Notwithstanding what may be due to that politeness and goodnature,' which the Author of thefe Effays calls upon us to exercise towards a female writer; there are other claims which oblige us to declare, that, however well intended, they are in fentiment too trite, and in language too incorrect, to merit any confiderable degree of, commendation. E.

Art. 42. The Catechifm of the Church of England. With Notes
explanatory; for the Ufe of young People. By A. Crocker,
Schoolmaster at Ilminster. 12mo. 3 d. or 2s. 6d. per dozen.
Robinfon.

These notes feem to be well calculated for the purpofe which they
were written to answer; they are concife, plain, aud orthodox.
Art. 43. An humble Attempt for the Inftruction of Youth in the
Grounds, Principles, and Duties of Religion. By way of Queftion
and Answer. 12mo. 6 d. Johnson, &c. 1774·

Attempts for the inftruction and affiftance of youth are truly laudable. Humanity, piety, and public fpirit, ever plead in their favour. The little performance before us is founded on the Scriptures. Numbers. will, perhaps, deem it not fufficiently evangelical; but, as far as it goes, it will probably be approved. By what accident our notice of it has been fo long delayed, we cannot readily fay; perhaps it was

never

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never advertised. The copy now before us was fent by an unknown hand.

SERMONS, &c.

1. Prayer for those in Civil and Military Offices recommended. Before the Election of the Magiftrates of Edinburgh, O&. 5, 1779. By John Erkine, D. D. one of the Minifters of Edinburgh. 8vo. 6 d. Edinburgh printed.

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Whether this is the Dr. Erskine who has diftinguished himself by his public difapprobation of the American war, we cannot with certainty fay. The fermon before us, from Joshua i. 17, is plain, pious, and practical. It leads us to an over-ruling Providence influencing and governing all human affairs; we find in it alfo fome fenfible obfervations on the prefent flate of our country. It feriously and warmly recommends fervent prayer and reformation. H. II. Preached before the Univerfity of Oxford, Nov. 7, 1779. By George Bellas, D. D. Rector of Yattendon, and Vicar of Bafilden, Berkshire. 4to. I S. Blyth, &c.

The immediate fubject of this difcourfe is, 2 Samuel xxiv. 11, 12, 13, the meffage which was fent by the prophet Gad to David. Dr. Bellas offers a juft and fenfible account of David's crime, and distinguishes rationally and properly between the very peculiar circumftances of the Jewish ftate, and that of every other country on earth. At the fame time, he enquires when any other nation may be chargeable with a crime at all fimilar to that to which the text alludes, viz. when it becomes generally impious, prefumptuous, and diffolute. In the application, he recommends repentance and refor mation to the inhabitants of this country.

III. Preached in the Parish Church of Whitby, before the Friendly Society, at their Anniverfary Mecting, on Whit-Monday, 1779, and published at their Request. By the Rev. Jofeph Robertfon, Curate of the faid Church. 4to. I S. York, printed; London, fold by Baldwin, &c.

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Every member of the Friendly Society, we are told in a note, by contributing eight-pence per month, is allowed five fhillings a week, out of the joint ftock, when rendered incapable of working by fickness, lameness, or blindness. On the deceafe of any member, his widow receives five pounds for défraying his funeral expences; and when any member's wife dies, he is allowed forty fhillings for the fame purpose.' We conclude alfo, though we are not directly informed, that a collection is made at the time of the fermon for fupporting this defign. Mr. Robertfon, in this difcourfe, urges the exercife of charity by convincing arguments, and pathetic reprefentations.

IV. The Watchfulness incumbent on Minifters, confidered, in a Charge,
delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Ifaac Smith, at Sidmouth,
Devon, June 24, 1778. By Joshua Toulmin, A. M. 8vo. 6d.
Taunton, printed; London, fold by Johnson.

This Charge, which now appears in a fecond edition, was publifhed together with the fermon, &c. delivered on the fame occafion, in 1778*. All of them have been noticed in our Review, and the

• Vide Review for September 1778, p. 239.

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account

account which was then given of them in their united Aate, is applicable to the piece now feparately printed; viz. that it is pious, rational, and practical. Such difcourfes cannot fail of doing honour to the Proteftant Diffenters. It may be proper to add, that this fecond edition of the Charge is owing to the earneft folicitation of Sir Harry Trelawney. Some fmall parts of the difcourfe, which, for want of time, were furpreffed in its first delivery, are here inferted.

CORRESPONDENCE.

T has ever been our custom to pay due regard to the decent re

their work,

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degree, mifreprefented in our Review. On this principle, we publith the following letter from Mr. Hey, of Leeds, relative to our late account of his Obfervations on the Blood: fee Review for November last, Art. VII. Our ftri&tures on that performance appeared, to us, to be just, at the time when we printed them; and we do not apprehend that he will attribute them to any perfonal difrefpe&t. To enter into a controverfy on the fubject, is not only unfuitable to the nature of our plan, but incompatible with our other engagements. What we have already faid, is fubmitted to the judgment of our Readers; and to the fame refpectable court we now convey the plea of Mr. Hey, in his own behalf.

To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

GENTLEMEN,

Confidering the great variety of fubjects which come daily under your notice, it cannot be deemed a want of candour to fuppofe, that fometimes the meaning of an author may be fo far mistaken, as to occafion a criticism, which, upon fecond thoughts, you would wish to alter or retract. My partiality, perhaps, may lead me to think, that this remark is applicable to fome parts of your criticifm on my Obfervations on the Blood. I fhall beg leave to point out a few paffages in which, I apprehend, you have miflaken my meaning, as well as that of Mr. Hewfon, whofe theory of fizy blood I have animadverted upon.

The first paffage I shall take notice of is that, in which you reprefent me as allowing the fundamental principle of Mr. Hewfon's theory, and mistaking the meaning of his terms: "This" (Mr. Hewfon's) "doctrine is, that inflammation, instead of increafing, leffens the difpofition of blood to coagulate, and instead of thickening, thins it, at least its coagulable part. And Mr. Hey, instead of controverting this fundamental principle, admits as a fact, that the furface of blood which is about to form a crust of fize, remains much longer fluid, than that of blood in different circumftances. So far, then, -they agree; but Mr. Hewfon fuppofes, that what floats on the furface of fuch blood is coagulable lymph, attenuated by the increased action of the blood veffels: whereas Mr. Hey contends, that it is coagulable lymph diluted with ferum. We must own, that the fet of experiments which Mr. Hey produces here, to prove (what nobody would doubt) that the fizy cruft of blood really contains a watery or ferous part, does not feem to us at all conclufive against the opinion of Mr. Hewfog, who, by ufing the term attenuated, certainly

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meant to convey the idea of its being of a dilute or aqueous confiftence. The cause here may be different; but the effect, as far as difcoverable by experiment, will certainly be the fame; dilution and attenuation being qualities not diftinguishable, as we imagine, by common fenfible tefts." Monthly Review, November, p. 341.

From feveral parts of Mr. Hewfon's Experimental Inquiry it appears, that by the term coagulable lymph, Mr. Hewfon meant, that part of the blood which gives folidity to the craffamentum, and retains a folid form when feparated from the ferum and red globules. As p. 6. "The craffamentum confilts of two parts, of which one gives it folidity, and is termed the coagulable lymph; and of another, which gives the red colour to the blood, and is called the red globules. Thefe two parts can be feparated by washing the craffamentum in water, the red particles diffolving in the water, whilft the coagulable lymph remains folid." And again, p. 106. "We fometimes fee almost the whole coagulable lymph collected at the top, forming a firm cruft, which being free from the ferum, as well as from the globules, contracts the furface into a hollow form :" though fometimes "there is not time for its being feparated from the ferum, of which it therefore contains a confiderable quantity, and is of courfe more fpongy and cellular."-In this laft fentence, the coagulable lymph is as clearly diftinguished from the ferum which it contains in forming the white crull; as in the former it is diftinguished from the red globules, with which it unites to form the craffamentum. I have followed Mr. Hewfon in using the term in this frict and proper fenfe, though both of us have fometimes ufed it in a more lax way, for the white cruft itself found upon the craffamentum.

By the term attenuation, Mr. Hewfon meant to exprefs the approach of a fubftance towards the state of perfect fluidity by an alteration made in the fubflance itself; by dilution, the approach towards perfect fluidity, by the addition of fome other fubftance of greater tenuity. When Mr. Hewfon afferts, that the coagulable lymph is attenuated by inflammation, he does not mean to fay, that inflammation caufes the lymph to be of a more dilute or aqueous confiftence than ufual, by the addition of ferum, or any other fluid of greater tenuity than itself; for he exprefly fays, that "the whole mafs of blood feems to be thinner than the ferum alone; or, that the coagulable lymph feems to be fo much attenuated in these cafes, as even to dilute the ferum." P. 55. But his meaning plainly is,

On the contrary, Mr. Hewfon declares his opinion to be, that the more attenuated the coagulable lymph is, the lefs dilute is its confifteuce after coagulation. "The fize is fometimes very firm, and at other times fpongy and cellular; thefe differences in its denfity are, I fufpect, in proportion to the degree of attenuation and leffened difpofition of the blood to coagulate; for-be more the lymph is attenuated, and the flower it coagulare, the more will the film be able to feparate it from the red globules and the ferum; thence perhaps it is, that we fometimes fee the whole coagulable lymph collected at the top, forming a firm cruft, &c. But when the bloo has its difpofition to coagulate lefs diminished-then-the lymph-contains a confiderable quantity of ferum, and is of courte more sporgy aud cellular.” P. 105,

106.

It is certain likewife, that Mr. Hewson did not think that the coagulable lymph was rendered thin, in its fluid flate, by the admixture of ferum; because he expressly fays, that the coagulable lymph, when attenuated, diluted the ferum. P. 55. that

that inflammation increases the tenuity of the lymph, while circulating in the veffels, by altering its properties, and that this tenuity remains for fome time after the blood is let out of the veffels, previously to its coagulation.

The force of Mr. Hewfon's arguments, which are drawn from the properties of the fluid obferved upon the furface of blood, when a white cruft is about to be formed, depends entirely upon the fuppofition, that this fluid is coagulable lymph. My experiments have, therefore, in the plaineft manner fhewn thefe arguments to be inconclufive, by fhewing that the fluid is not coagulable lymph; but that fometimes, and fometimes near of it are fomething elfe, viz. ferum. Indeed, it is needless to attend to any arguments, which are defigned to prove that this fluid is thinner than ferum, as Mr. Hewfon afferts; fince the teftimony of the fenfes will foon convince any one of the contrary, who will give himself the trouble of examining it.

Your next paragraph relates to an inconfiftency into which you fuppofe I have fallen by afferting, that the blood may, at the fame time, have an increafed proportion of coagulable lymph and ferum. "How these two oppofite principles in the blood (one giving it denfity, and the other tenuity) can both be augmented at the fame time, and from the fame caufe, we own ourselves at a lofs to conceive." Review, P. 342.

I have no where faid, that the coagulable lymph and ferum are increased by the fame caufe; on the contrary, I have exprefsly attributed their increase to different caufes, as in the following paffages:

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That the proportion of coagulable lymph is increased by inflammation, will be allowed by all,' &c. Obf. on the Blood, p. 22. We need not wonder, that the watery liquors, which are drunk plentifully in these disorders, fhould thin the blood.' Ib. p. 28.

Neither have I faid that it (viz. the fame thing) is at the fame time thicker and thinner. But I have faid, that the proportion of coagulable lymph and ferum are fometimes increased at the fame time; and I cannot fee the difficulty, either of conceiving the poffibility, or allowing the reality of this fact. Whenever we fee the craffamentum of a very firm texture, or covered with a strong buffy coat, and throwing off a great quantity of ferum, (which is the cafe in violent inflammatory diforders after repeated bleeding) then we fee the proportion of lymph and ferum increased at the fame time. And whenever this happens, the whole mafs of blood will look thin as it flows from the vein; though the craffamentum, by having more than its ufual proportion of coagulable lymph, will be of an increased tenacity.

The last part of your criticism, which I fhall beg leave to take notice of, would have been obviated by comparing Mr. Hewfon's expreffions with mine, in our different accounts of the experiment made on the blood of flaughtered sheep. You would not, I think, have imagined, that our difference might arife in part, from the ambiguous ufe of a term. "One caufe of fallacy, indeed, we difcern, in the different idea annexed to the term coagulation. Mr. Hey obferves, that the last blood was more vifcid as it flowed, though it was the longeft in coagulating completely. Now vifcidity differs only in

degree

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