mary importance. Single fermons, and fmall tracts, of confiderable excellence, have abounded perhaps more than ufual. We do not fay that this has literally been the cafe, in the productions from the prefs;" because it is not poffible for us to follow with minute exactness the order of publication; but fo it has happened with respect to the order in which they have been prefented to our obfervation. In this class of publications the Charge of the Bishop of London to his Clergy*, firft demanded our attention, which we found it very highly to deserve, as containing a masterly and ufeful view of the state of religion in foreign countries, its influence here, and the confequent duties of the clergy. The republifhed Charge of the Bishop of Durhamt confines its view more entirely to the ftate of things within this country, but conveys in an able manner much religious and political inftruction. Of the fermons preached on occafion of the Faft, we are confcious that feveral are yet accidentally unnoticed, which deferved perhaps an earlier attention; but, among those which have fallen under our confideration, we could not fail to diftinguish that of Mr. Jackfon, at Lincoln's Inn. Among thofe which have been preached on other public occafions, thofe of Mr. Hay, before the Houfe of Commons, and Mr. Glaffe, at the Bishop of London's Vifitation, demand particular mention: as do alfo the confecration fermon of Mr. T. D. Whitaker, that of Dr. Glaffe before the magiftrates of Middlefex,** of Mr. Griffith for the Sons of the Clergy+t, and Mr. Twining before the corporation of Colchefter. It is pleafing to obferve, on fo many different occafions, good learning, found divinity, and manly eloquence, applied to various topics, wherein good principles No. ** No. IV. No. I. p. 55. No. III. p. 260. ‡ No. V. were were to be fupported, and good deeds recommended. As a difcourfe, which, without the call of any ftated celebration, brings itfelf forward by its own intrinfic value, we cannot omit to mention the fermon of Mr. Jones, entitled The Age of Unbelief, in which he states fo very strikingly the unhappy prevalence of the reafon man in fetting itself up against the wifdom of God, with the dreadful confequences to be feen and expected from that caufe. Nor fhould we leave unnoticed that difcourfe in which the late worthy, and too early lamented Mr. Keate, brought forward an im portant Interpretation of the 109th Pfalmt, which had hitherto lain hid in the comments of a few ingenious men, of this and foreign countries. Among publications in Divinity of rather greater magnitude, we have only to mention, at prefent, the ufeful View of the Prophecies, by Mr. E. Whitaker, in which he has brought, with great fkill, the reluctant adverfary Gibbon to bear teftimony to the truth of Revelation. The Demonftration of our Saviour's Divinity, by Dr. Wynperles, which gained the prize at the Hague, has very properly been publifhed here, where efforts are fo zealously carried on to overturn that Chriftian doctrine. We return with pleasure alfo to commend the concife View of the Hiftory of religious Knowledge, which, though a small volume, and anonymous, conveys the refult of much reading and judgment, in a manner that is likely to be useful. Such a writer can have little reafon to conceal his name, and the book deserves the aid which it would derive from one which is, we doubt not, refpectable. But if these narrow limits contain all we have at prefent to bring forward under the important title of Divinity, there is a work of magnitude and worth, immediately after to be men No. IV. p. 426. + No. II. p. 157. ‡ No. V. p. 50 $ No. V. p. 666. No. I. p. 76. tioned, which stands, as it ought, on the firm basis of Religion, though its profeffed object is MORALITY. Our readers will eafily anticipate, that under this description we are about to recall their attention to the great work of Mr. Gisborne, entitled An Enquiry into the Duties of Men, &c. a book which, for the accuracy and comprehenfive nature of its views, the purity of its precepts, and the elegance of its diction, will not foon be equalled, and has not often been furpaffed. We could dwell with pleasure on a topic fo interefting to fociety at large, but fuch is not the plan of our prefent recapitulation: and we haften onward into other claffes, where we have much merit to remark, though not in general, fo important in its kind. HISTORY. The eye of hiftorical science, which pervades by turns all countries, has been attracted lately to the Eaft, in confequence of the increafed cultivation of the Afiatic languages by Europeans; and among the ftores which this direction of ftudy has produced, few have been more valuable than The Hiftory of Dekkan, tranflated by Captain Scott, from Ferifhtat, and continued from other native writers. Thefe authentic accounts, taken from authors who were either eye-witneffes of the events they relate, or had the best means of information at command, must be ftored among the treasures of Hiftory, the main object of which is that truth which tends to illuftrate human nature, by just representation of human actions. Mr. Gifford's Hiftory of France is of courfe a work of a very different nature; compiled with vaft labour, from a prodigious number of authorities; it amounts to four large quartos; and certainly prefents one of the * No. IV. p. 329. + No. III. p. 209. and V. 516. No. IV. p. 379. 4 completeft completest hiftories of a foreign country that has yet appeared in our language. Mr. Mayo's Chronological Hiftory, or rather tables, from 1678 to the clofe of the year 1792, muft be acknowledged to be useful for reference, and compiled with confiderable labour. The book is not calculated for popular fale, either by its form or method, but it will find its place in libraries. Of hiftories more limited in their object, that of The French Clergy, during the Revolution, by the Abbé Barruelt, is of a nature peculiarly interefting, and comprises fome details in which, even the infamy of those who were the authors of the cruelties that were perpetrated, is not more confpicuous than the heroic fortitude, and ardent piety of the innocent fufferers. As the account of a fhort period, given by an agent in the scenes he defcribes, Colonel Money's Hiftory of the Campaign of 1792, may be confulted with advantage. BIOGRAPHY. The most important addition lately made to this branch of literature is the Life of Bishop Warbur ton written by Bishop Hurd§. This, though called A Difcourfe, by way of Preface to the Quarto Edition of Bifhop Warburton's Works, and fold only to the purchafers of that edition, is an interefting piece of Biography, and one which ought to be more widely circulated. Some objections we found it neceffary to make to the fentiments delivered in particular parts; but, on the whole, it is a refpectable production. It is not, indeed, what it might have been, had the author chofen to undertake a critical examination of the works of his illuftrious friend; or rather had that talk been executed by a writer of equal talents, with a less partial bias in favour of the Bishop, whofe genius * No. II. p. 175. No. VI. p. 645 + No. V. p. 471. + No. II. p. 111. furnished furnished the materials: yet ftill it is the life of a great man, and written by a friend well worthy of him. Mr. Hayley's Life of Milton; prefixed to Boydell's fplendid edition of that author's poems, refembles the preceding, in conveying a ftrong panegyric on the fubject of the narrative. The partiality in the former cafe was occafioned by perfonal attachment, in the latter partly, at least, by an honeft admiration of tranfcendent genius. Mr. Hayley draws the character of Milton from his writings, and though we know this fource of information to be in general rather fallible; we think the juvenile productions of an author, on which the greatest ftrefs from this inftance is laid, moft likely to convey his real character. Sicever's Life of Linnæust, a tranflation from the German, by Mr. Trap, must be mentioned in refpect to the illuftrious fubject of it, but by its prolixity and trifling minutenets of information does little honour to the judgment of the original writer. The Biographical Sketches accompanying Mr. Chamberlain's collection of Portraits from Holbein, are fo good as to entitle them to be mentioned in this place. They were written, as was notified before, by Mr. Lodge, whofe abilities for Hiftorical refearches are well known. ANTIQUITIES. In the first number of this volume we concluded our account of Mr. Maurice's Indian Antiquities§; a work of great labour and acutenefs, and preparatory only to another of equal, if not fuperior difficulty, his Hiftory of that country in its early periods. Mr. Maurice, as may be feen even in his Antiquities, is a man of genius, and a poet; but nothing toils with the vigour of genius, when its zeal is actively employed No. VI. p. 569. + No. VI. p. 591, No. III. p. 264, No. I. p. 62. |