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language. We fee little to admire by its greatness; and as little to delight by its novelty. There is nothing to roufe by force; there is nothing to foften by elegance. Attention is not strongly arrelled by events already related; and expe&ation is but little interested in what is to fucceed.

There is one thing, however, that interefts our humanity, and in fome degree repreffes the rigor of criticism. The Author (as we are informed by an advertisement) died in the year 1974, about 8 or 9 months after he had begun the work. When the Reader is told that he was not 18 years of age when he died, that he never had a claffical education, that he was in indigent circumftances, and that at the time when he wrote this work he earned his bread by hard labour,-perhaps he will be induced candidly to overlook his imperfections. The prefent performance hath been rescued from destruc- new par tion by the interpofition of a gentleman who is allowed to be a judge of these matters; and who, unwilling to have fo curious an attempt configned to oblivion, offered to risk the loan of the fum neceffary to defray the expences of the publication.

The ftory is fimply this: A pagan tyrant, the implacable enemy of the Chriftians, who are reprefented as a numerous and increafing fect, at the last hour of his existence, is willing to put a period to the religious feuds of his fubje&ts; and by an act of public justice, endeavours to atone for a life of violence and oppreffion. He convenes his fubjects, who are chiefly Chriftians, and fubmits the nomination of a fucceffor to their choice, on condition he fhall efpoufe the Princess Veftinia, his only daughter. Their choice falls almoft unanimoufly on Oronthes, their favourite general, and a known adherent to the Christian caufe. By this election Maxentius, the King's nephew, who is a pagan, finds himself excluded from the fucceffion to the diadem. Previous to this convention, at a fecret meeting of the Chriftians, the Princess Vefiinia, who had privately adopted their faith, is refcued by Oronthes from the violence of Maxentius. They difclofe to each other their mutual paffion, and Oronthes is informed of the defigns of the King. Each of them in a vifion, the fame evening, fees Michael the arch-angel, who affures them that they should be united and live in perfect felicity, though the confummation of their wishes would not take place till they had paffed through various fcenes of perfecution and diftrefs. By the conflitution of the kingdom, it new par was however neceffary, that the choice of the people fhould be ratified by the fenate. The fenate was fupported by the army; and the latter chiefly confifted of pagans. It is eafy, therefore, to forefee, that the previous action would be annulled by the fenators, and Maxentius raised to the throne of his uncle; but as the majority of the people was Chriftians, fome contivance was neceffary to intimidate them, and raife the fpirits of the pagans. A fenator who was the agent of a neighbouring king, and who wifhed, for his own ambitious purposes, to excite a civil war, concealed himself in an oak, and, during the pagan facrifice, exclaimed in a loud voice,-" Crush the

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ufurping Chriftian," &c. This fuppofed meffenger was univer-fally lillened to with implicit veneration, and the fenate raised Maxentius to the throne. Oronthes, on this, was confined in a dungeon, and Veltinia, defined to the bed of the pagan ufurper, felt the most poignant

Cc 4

poignant anguish. To fecure the interefts of the pagan faction, the Chriftians were induced to believe that Oronthes had deferted their faith, and killed himself, after a declaration of his apottacy:- that his pretence was only to fecure the crown, and after throwing away the disguise of profeffion, to perfecute the fe&t he had appeared to patronize. To countenance this impofition on the credulity of the people, a foldier of the Guards, who much resembled Oronthes, is killed and mangled in fuch a manner as to delude the eye, by making the difference between the two bodies imperceptible. This artifice fucceeds, and the Chriftians defpairing of any fupport, retire in filent grief.At this period the first volume concludes.

On the whole, this work deserves fome attention, though we can bestow on it no warm encomiums abstracted from the circumftances in which it was penned What resemblance this novel is to bear to our late tranfactions with America we cannot as yet perceive; nor can we difcover any difcriminated likeness between Oronthes and Veftinia and our gracious fovereigns (whofe characters, we find, were intended to be fhadowed forth by them), unless indeed in what is ungfual in modern Princes-a laudable regard for Christianity. .B.d.k. Art. 28. The Mafqued Weddings, in a Series of Letters. 2 Vols. 8vo. 5 s. 1ookham. 1781.

Thefe Letters are written with fpirit and vivacity. The rapidity of the language hurries on the reader too faft, and scarcely leaves him a retting-place on which to fit down and draw breath. But the lovers of novels will find entertainment in thefe volumes;-which bear flrong marks of a pen we have already complimented under the article of "Mis. Rofemont and Sir Henry Cardigan."

MISCELLANEOUS.

D: Art. 29. The Land Valuer's Affiftant, being Tables on an improved Plan for calculating the Value of Eitates. By R. Hudfon. Pocket fize. 3 s. 6d. Richardfon and Urquhart, 1781. The compiler of these tables affirms, in his introduction, that the value of land may be found from them, by fewer figures, than from any other publication; a circumstance that, if the tables are found to be correct, will be a fufficient recommendation. N. Art. 30 A Collection of Rules and flanding Orders of the House of Commons, relative to the applying for and paffing Bills for inclufing and draining of Lands, making Turnpike Roads, Navigations, and other l'ur:ofes. 4to. IS. T. Payne, &c. 1781.

The use of this collection is evident from the title; and it would be rather extra judicial for us to review the ftanding orders of the House of Commons

Art. 31.

Some Account of Captain J. Carver. 8vo. 2 5.
Dilly, &c. 1781.

This account of the enterprising but unfortunate Captain Carver, was drawn up by Dr. Lettfom, and is prefixed to a new edition [the third] of the Captain's Travels through the interior parts of North America. The Captain deferved well of his Country. He ferved it faithfully in the late American war; and when his fword was no

But is fold feparately, for the accommodation of the purchasers of the former editions.

N.

longer

longer useful to it, he endeavoured to continue his fervices by rendering our vaft acquifition of unexplored American territory + more extenfively advantageous to us, in a commercial view.-How was he rewarded? With penury, and a broken heart!

To this narrative is prefixed a print of Capt. Carver, from an original picture in the poffeffion of Dr. Lettiom. The pamphlet is likewife decorated with a coloured engraving of the tobacco plant in full blow, as it was given in the Captain's treatife on this famous vegetables: For an account of which fee Review, vol. Ixi. p. 78. Art. 32. A Help to Elocution. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Fielding and

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This useful compilation confifts of three effays. The first is on reading and aeclamation, wherein the principles of both are laid down under the feveral heads of emphafis, climax, modulation, pauses, &c. &c. The fecond effay treats of the marks and characters of the differe ent paffions and affections of the mind. The third of compofition, tending to explain and illustrate the beauties of fine writing, and the principles on which they depend. To thefe effays, is added a large collection of examples, in profe and verfe, felected from the Spectator, Rambler, the World, and other periodical papers; and alfo from the works of Swift, Pope, Parnel, Gay, Prior, Lyttelton, Hume, and other writers of distinguished character in the world of letters.

This little volume (as the preface fays) is calculated for the use of fchools. It was not meant to give any thing original to the world; the only praise which the publishers afpire to, is that of having made a careful, and, they hope, not an injudicious compilation.

The first effay, however, is an original from the pen of a gentleman who hath been long practifed in the art of fpeaking. The two next are extracted from works of established credir.'

The defign of this publication is commendable, and the execution of it both pleafing and judicious.

PHILOSOPHICAL.

B.d.k. Art. 33. Outlines of an Answer to Dr. Priestley's Difquifitions relating to Matter and Spirit: By the Rev. Richard Gifford, B. A. Rector of North Okendon, Effex. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Cadell. 1781. These outlines or reflections were written, as we are told in an advertisement, while the Author was peruting Dr. Priestley's Difquifitions; which, it seems, came into his hands in the courfe of circulation in a reading fociety, at a time when he had not feen Dr. Price's correspondence with Dr. Priestley, nor knew that any answer to the Difquifitions had been published.

After the numerous occafions we have had of treating of this controverfy, we do not think that our Readers would thank us for returning to this beaten fubject, as we find nothing striking or new in the Author's outlines, which are plentifully fprinkled with quotations from numerous authors, in various languages.

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We shall only add, that we think the Author's friend, from whom the defign originated of giving the work to the public,' fhould have pointed out to him the appa ent contradiction which trikes us be

+ Vid. our account of the first edition of the Captain's Travels, Rev. vol. Ix. p. 9o.

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tween the Author's profeffion (at p. 5. of his advertisement), of his
⚫ not having paffed the line of decency,' and his having therefore a
fair claim to an equal portion of civility and good temper;'-and
the language which he holds in the last paragraph of the pamphlet;
where he reprefents Dr. Priefley's work as containing a wretched
Syftem,' and as likely to prove a delicious morfel, to perfons
whose wicked lives have predifpofed them to wish for annihilation.'
Increasing in civility and decency, he adds, they will laugh heartily
at the remaining part of the Doctor's scheme, as concluding that it
was calculated only to lengthen out the work, and to add to the
price of the volume; and, if the Book fells, the grave Doctor will
← laugh too.'——————Such infinuations can difgrace only the perfon
who employs them.
NATURAL HISTORY.
B..y.
Art. 34. A General Synopfis of Birds. By John Latham.
4to. 10 s. 6 d. fewed. White. 1781.

Of this work but a small part is at prefent published. The whole of Mr. Latham's undertaking will be extended through three volumes: the first of which will contain the Accipitres and Pice of Linnæus; the fecond will confift of the Pafferes and Galine of the fame author; and the third volume will clote the work with his Gralle and Anferes. Mr. Latham, who in his refearches and inquiries feems to be indefatigable, promifes that his Synopfis fhall contain nearly four times the number of birds that is to be found in Linnæus's Syftema Natura. The fources from whence he has drawn his information, befides the books that have appeared fince Linnæus wrote, are the numerous collections in natural hiftory that of late years have been made in England; particularly the curious and magnificent collec tions of Sir Ashton Lever and Sir Jofeph Banks, both of which have been enriched by a great variety of fubjects, collected by our late ceJebrated circumnavigators.

The prefent publication contains the vulture, falcon, and owl tribes. To the profeft ornithologift it will afford confiderable entertainment, the defcriptions being accurate and minute. We could have wished for more engravings; but as this is a with that could not have been indulged without accumulated expence, Mr. Latham has perhaps done wifely in not adding to what is already fufficiently high. -N. B. The plates are coloured.

LA W.

C.t.6. Art. 35. Copies of Opinions afcribed to eminent Counsel on the Will which was the Subject of the Cafe of Perrin v. Blake, before the Court of King's Bench in 1769. Addressed to the Right Honourable William Earl of Mansfield. By Charles Fearne, Efq; Barrier of Law, of the Inner Temple; Author of the Effey on the Learning of Contingent Remainders and Executory Devifers. 8vo. I S. Uriel.

Thefe Opinions will be gladly accepted by the profeffion as an Appendix to Mr. Fearne's very valuable treatife on "Contingent Remainders." They bear the names of the most eminent lawyers of their day, of no lefs men than Sir Dudley Ryder, Mr. Filmer, Mr. Booth; and, of a fourth,-e mightier far than they,-who decided the cafe, as Chief Justice, against the opinion not only of the other three,

but

but against his own opinion, given in the year 1747, when he was the Hon. Mr. Murray. The noble Lord, as he now is, hath, however, lately difavowed that he gave any fuch opinion in 1747, in confequence of which, Mr. Fearne feels himself called upon for a public and unreferved declaration of the authorities that led him into the error of imputing it to his Lordship, and the impropriety of publifhing an extract from it, as fuch, in the last edition of his book. He has accordingly published a copy of the whole opinion; with his reafons for thinking it genuine. The difcuffion is minute, and uninterefting and terminates in one of thefe two obvious conclufions, either that Mr. Fearne had been grofsly impofed on by fome of the most accurate men in the profeffion-or that the Lord Chief Justice, at the age of SEVENTY-SIX, may paffibly not remember very diftin&ly every fentence he wrote 33 years ago. We leave the alternative to the gentleman of the law. The point indeed is not very material. It is fufficient that Lord Mansfield's decision was reversed in the house of Lords: that Mr. Murray's opinion (if genuine) is fet up again : and the uniform tenor of former cafes futtained:-to the great joy of the venerable old conveyancers, who began to tremble left they should be obliged to unlearn all their ancient learning: 6. Et quæ

Imberbes didicere fenes perdenda fateri."

T.

Art. 36. Two Actions between John Howe, Efq; and George Lewis Dive, Efq. Tried by a Special Jury, before Lord Manffield, at the Affizes at Croyden, August 16, 1781. 4to. Kearily.

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The following advertisement is prefixed to thefe proceedings:

1 S.

As a partial and mutilated account of thefe trials appeared in the news-papers, the friends of Mr. Howe have requested him to publish the whole of both caufes, faithfully taken in fhort-hand, that the Public may be enabled to judge of thofe verdicts which have done juftice to his injured character.'The pleadings of the Counfel, and Lord Mansfield's Addrefs to the fury, add much to the confequence of this publication.

Art. 37. The Cafe of Jonathan Fiske, Bookfeller, tried and honourably acquitted at the Seffions in the Old Bailey, held in June, 1781, upon the infamous Profecution of Patrick Roche Farrill, &c. &c. 8vo. I s. Fike, Stockdale, &c.

As far as can be difcovered from a narrative very badly drawn up, and fuitably printed, Jonathan Fifke indifcreetly fuffered himself to be entangled in a very dangerous connexion with the parties mentioned in his title-page. We with him joy on his deliverance, hoping he will be made wife by his experience. Art. 38. A Letter to Robert Macqueen Lord Braxfield, on his Promotion to be one of the Judges of the High Court of Jufticiary. Edinburgh printed. 8vo. 19. Bladon.

From this letter, which is penned in the nature of a charge to the newly appointed Judge, we are reminded that the Judges of the High Court of Jufliciary are but men; and frailty is incident to human nature. Nevertheless, the Writer ftates fome obvious irregularities, far from being difcredited by improbability, and not beyond human powers

N.

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