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conviction that the Editor and his coadjutors have in no refpect forfeited their engagements with the public, and that the jufteft expectations may be formed of their affiduity in compleating this vaft undertaking, as foon as is confiftent with the nature of fuch a work, Merely to compile from what is already

in print, is the work of labour, and of labour which may be cafily commanded; but to compofe a work like the prefent requires that union of talents, judgment, critical acumen, and various reading, which is rarely found, and which, if denied to the prefent editor, we know not where to find.

Monody to the Memory of the late Queen of France, by Mrs. Mary Robinfon, 45. 6d. 4to, Evans, 1793.

THE wanton and unneceffary indig nities inflicted on the late Queen of France, and the final catastrophe perpetrated by the ufurping powers of that nation, by a people whofe crimes cannot be viewed without horror and de. teftation, we made no doubt would call forth the talents of thofe writers whofe abilities are properly exercifed in depicting the more than brutal exceffes of licentious and lawless ferocity.Among the firft of thefe is the Lady whofe performance is now before us, the fertility of whofe genius we cannot help no vicing, while we admire the correctness and beauty of her compofitions The prefent work will add one more laurel to the wreath twined by genius, and bonourably dedicated to ferve the great interefts of Religion and Morality, both outraged by the enormities committed under the pretence, but in reality in violation of every principle of true liberty.

Leaving the contemplation of the late favage act committed on a defenceless, 4ad we doubt not, much calumniated woman, whose fate is here pathetically deplored, we shall felect the following defeription as a fpecimen of the prefent performance. We believe no apology ill be neceffary for the length of the quotation.

Is there, in all the legend of past times,
An æra blacken'd with fuch wanton crimes?
Such barb rous mifchief 1 fweeping from the
earth

Religion, talents, innocence and worth!
Nor o'er the high-born base alone it low`rs ;.
O'er all it fpreads its agonizing pow'rs!
The

fe, the good, the brave-all fecl its force!

Uncheck'd by reason, torpid to remorse.
All (mear'd with gore, pale Liberty appears,
Her fmiles contending with repentant tears;
No more ter hand fair flow'rets fcatters
round:

Her faulchion fteams from many a recent

wound i

O'er shatter'd pyramids fhe madd'ning flies,
Power in her arm, and murder in her eyes;
Scar'd by the clamours of the furious rage,
She fpares not worth, nor genius, fex, nor
age!

All records perish by her rash decree ;
The wreaths of valour; pride of chivalry;
The fculptor's art, the boast of many a clime,
(Snatch'd from the defolating grafp of time);
The painter's glowing canvass which difplays
The finish'd Audy of laborious days
Heap'd in one facrilegious ruin lie,
Feeding the flame that menaces the sky!
While Iguorance points the victims of its ire,
And loads with off'rings the infatiate fire!
Deep dying murmurs float upon the gale,
And ev'ry zephyr bears fome woe-fraught
tale!

Here widows pine, not daring to complain ;
There orphans languish for a parent flain !
The mountain peasant quits his lone retreat,
His clay-built cottage, and his vineyard neat !
No more, at eve's approach, his infants run,
While the vale reddens with the finking fun,
To greet their weary fire, whofe labours hard
Meet in their dear embrace their sweet re-
ward I

No more, when winter defolates the grove,
He liftens to the voice of wedded love,
Trims the clay hearth, and as the faggots.
blaze,

Chaunts the old ditty of his grandfire's days; While his fond mate the homely meal pre pares,

Smiles on his board and diffipates his cares!
No more, amidst the fimple village throng,
He joins the Sportive dance, the merry fong!
Now, torn from thofe, he quits his native
wood,

Braves the dread front of war, and pants for blood!

Now to his reap-hook and his pastoral reed, The crimfon'd pike, and glitt'ring fword fuc-ceed!

His ruffet garb now chang'd for trappings

vain,

Mis ruthy pillow for the tented plain!
No more his matin fong's melodiou note
Along the mountain's breezy fide fhall float

No

No more his board, with luscious fruits fupply'd,

Shall mock the banquet of luxurious pride!
No more fweet flambers blefs his midnight
hours!
[flow'rs!

No more hope ftrews his daily path with
From his lorn breaft all earthly comforts fly;
He hates to live-yet more he fears to die!
Now, when the tardy day begins to rife,
And fhort-liv'd flumbers quit his fev'rish
eyes,

Fancy, with agonizing power, difplays

The peaceful comforts of his happier days! Shows, on the pallet of his former reft, His infants mourning on their mother's breast, Pinch'd by pale famine, finking to the grave; No food to nourish, and no friend to fave! "Ah!" then he cries, half madd'ning with defpair,

"Is this the freedom I was call'd to share? "Where is my clay-built hut, where wont to reign

"The little monarch of Love's free domain ? "My (miling partner clafp'd me to her breast,

"My infants blefs'd me ere I funk to rest!”

Turn to the Nobles! There let pity view The Many fuff'ring for the guilty Few! Perish the wretch, who, fanction'd by his birth,

Prefumes to perfecute the child of worth!
Perish the wretch who tarnishes defcent
By the vile vaunting of a life ill spent!
Who fullies proud propinquity of blood,
Yet frowns indignant on the low-born good!
Who fhields his recreant bofom with a name,
And, first in infamy, is last in fame!
-Yet let reflection's eye difcriminate
The diff'rence 'twixt the mighty and the
great!

Virtue is ftil! illuftrious, ftill fublime,
In ev'ry itation, and in ev'ry clime!
Truth can derive no eminence from birth,
Rich in the proud fupremacy of worth,
Its bleft dominion, vast and unconfin't,
Its crown eternal, and its throne the mind!
Then Heaven forbid that prejudice should
(can,

With jaundic'd eye, the dignities of man!

That Perfecution's agonizing rod

Should boldly fmite" the nobleft work of God !"

That rank hould be a crime, and Genius harl'd

A mournful wand'rer on the pitying world!
Yet Heaven forbid that Ignorance fhould rife
On the dread basis where Religion dies!
That Liberty, immortal as the ipheres,
Should teep her laurel in a nation's tears!
Oh, falfely nam'd! does Liberty require
The child should perish for the guilty fire?
Does Liberty infpire the Atheist's brealt
To mock his God, and make his laws a jeft?
Does Liberty with barbarous fetters bind
Her fir-born hope, the freedom of the
mind?

Hence bold ufurper of that heaven-taught pow'r

Which wings with ecftacy man's tranfient hour'

Which bids the eve of reafon cloudiefs thine,
And gives mortality a charm divine!
'M:dit the wild winds the lordly cedar tow`rs;
Progretive days invigorate its pow'rs;
The earlier branches, with'ring as they spread,
Round the firm root their coal fest foliage fhed;
While the proud tree its verdant head rears
high,

Waves to the blaft, and feems to pierce the fkv;
Till the rich trunk, matur'd by length'ung

years,

Through all their wond'rous changes, braves

the spheres;

Flings its rich fragrance on the gales that fweep

The framid forehead of the mountain's steep;
Mocks the fierce rage of elemental war,
The bolt's red fulphur, and the thunder's
jir ž

And when around the fhatter'd fragments lie,
The flocken victims of the in'uriate tky--
Amidit the wrecks of nature feems to clinib
Supremely grand, and awfully tublime.

To this Poem is prefixed a Portrait of the Queen of France, drawn by the Marchionefs de Marnefia.

Brief Reflections relative to the French Clergy, carneftly fubmitted to the humane Confideration of the Ladies of Great Britain. By the Author of Evelina and Cecilia. 8vo. 1s. 6d.

THE Writer of this pamphlet very

humanely appropriates the profits that may arife from the fale of it to the relief of the French Emigrant Clergy. We hall, therefore, make no extracts

Cadell.

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Sixteen Sermons on various Subjects and Occafions. By George Horne, D. D. late Bishop of Norwich. Now first collected into one Volume Octavo. 6st Robinfons.

(Concluded from Vol. XXIV: Page 440.)

SERMON XII. has for its title, "The Character of true Wifdom, and the means of obtaining it," on Prov. iv. 7. "Wifdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding." This was preached before the Society of Gentlemen educated in the King's School, Canterbury, Aug. 26, 1784.

takes

The value of learning is well appreciated in this fermon, and the learned preacher, in difcuffing the fubject, which he was fo well qualified to manage, occafion to throw out not only fome just and poignant remarks against vifionary writers on education, particularly the ingenious but whimfical Rouffeau, but alfo to make fome novel and very excellent obfervations on the methods of acquiring learning.

Speaking of the fashionable mode of inftruction recommended by Lord Chefterfield, confifting in "Travels and a Knowledge of the World," Dr. Horne obferves well and fmartly, "To know the world is doubtless expedient, in fome circumftances neceffary; but a man fhould know many other things before he enters upon that ftudy, or he will do well not to enter upon it at all. Let him lay in a stock, and that no moderate one, of useful learning and found principles,ere he fet out upon his travels, or he will be little better for having feen the world, though the world may be fomewhat the merrier for having feen him. If he go out an ignoramus, he will come home a profligate, with the atheist ingrafted upon the blockhead. As to the bufinefs of the Gracesbefore the glofs can be given, a fubftance must be prepared to receive it; and folid bodies take the brightest polifh."

The advantages attending a turn for literary purfuits are strongly laid down, and the exhortation to fuch a courfe is clofe and perfuafive.

Sermon XIII. is on the inftitution of Sunday Schools, preached at St. Alphage, Canterbury, on Pfalm xxxiv. 11. "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." In this fermon every thing is faid on the fubject, and that too in the author's elegant and pathetic manner. To fhew the neceffity of inculcating religious principles early and conftantly on the VOL. XXV.

minds of the poor, the following anec-
dote is related, taken from Davies's Life
of Garrick: "A fervant, who had made
the improvement that might be expected
from hearing the irreligious and blafphe-
mous conversation continually paffing at
the table where it was his place to wait,
took an opportunity to rob his master.
Being apprehended, and urged to give
a reafon for his infathous behaviour,
"Sir," faid he, "I had heard you fo
often talk of the impoflibility of a fu-
ture ftate, and that after death there.
was no reward for virtue, nor punish-
ment for vice, that I was tempted to
commit the robbery." "Well, but," re-
plied the mafter, had you no fear of
that death which the laws of your coun-
try inflict upon the crime?"""Sir," re-
joined the fervant, looking fternly at
his mafter, "What is that to you, if I
had a mind to venture that? You had
removed my greatest terror; why
fhould I fear the lefs?" The mafter is
faid to have been the late ingenious Mr.
Mallet, the confidential friend of Lord
Bolingbroke.

Sermon XIV. is upon "the duty of contending for the faith," preached at the primary vifitation of the prefent Archbishop of Canterbury, at the Cathedral there, July 1, 1786. Text, Jude v. verfe 1. "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common falvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that you should contend earnestly for the. faith once delivered unto the faints."

In fhewing the neceffity of this contention, the learned preacher well explains what the faith is which is fo to be contended for, and dwells particularly upon the fubject of the Trinity. He adverts to the fituation of the Church of England, and feeling alarmed at the increase of Socinianifm, urges ftrongly a fpirit of zeal, cfpecially on the Clergy, in behalf of the ancient Establishment. In expreffing the manner in which this contention is to be carried on, he obferves juftly, that " it must not be by pains and penalties," but as "the faith is apoftolical, the contention fhould be fo likewife. The weapons of cur warfare must be fcripture and history, reafon and argument." The rules for conducting a religious controverfy that follow in this admirable difcourfe ought F

carefully

carefully to be attended to by every perfon who ventures into that kind of contention; and the exhortation to the clergy to improve themfeives in the learning necellary to their profeffion deferves their clofeft perufal and at

tention.

The Fifteenth Sermon is on "the doctrine of the Trinity," from Matt. xxviii. 19. "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

In this difcourfe the fcripture evidences for this doctrine are well adduced, and placed in a forcible point of view. The following remark on the phrafeology of his text is ftriking: "The circumftance of the form running in the NAME not Names, but in the fingular number, Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, might and did in the strongest manner intimate that the authority of all the Three was the fame, their power equal, their perfons undivided, and their glory one.'

Having obferved in the fermon itielf, that in a great number of inftances, the very fame things are faid in different places of fcripture of all the three divine perfons, and the very fame actions, afcribed to them ;-therefore, thefe three were, are, and will be one God, from everlasting to everlafting;"-our author fubjoins the following pertinent and very judicious note: "Such being the fact, all manner of difputation concerning the manner of the diftinction, the manner of the union, the manner of the generation, and the manner of the proceffion, is needlefs and fruitless:

needlefs, becaufe, if we have divine authority for the fact, it fufficeth; that is al! we are concerned to know: fruitlefs, because it is a difputation without ideas: after a long, tedious, intricate, and perplexed controverfy, we find our felves-juft where we were totally in the dark. Such has been the cafe refpecting this and other questions. God is pleafed to reveal the fact; man infifts upon apprehending the mode; in his prefent ftate he cannot apprehend it; he therefore denies the fact, and commences unbeliever."

The last fermon was preached before the Governors of the inftitution for the delivery of poor married women at their own habitations, March 30, 1788. Text i. John iv. 11. "If God fo loved us, we ought alfo to love one another."

The redemption of mankind, refult ing from the free grace of God, is cer tainly the strongest motive that can be urged upon Chriftians to exercise love and benevolence towards their diftreffed brethren. This is fet in a forcible point of view in this pleafing difcourfe. The inftitution on which account it was preached, is ftrongly recommended to general fupport, and in the author's ufual elegant ftile of perfuafive tendernefs.

Having been thus copious in our report of this excellent collection of fermons, we fhall trefpafs no longer on our readers than to fay, that in the perufal of Bishop Horne's writings they will al ways find entertainment and inftruc tion.

W.

Hiftorical Views of Devonshire. In Five Volumes. Vol. I. large Octavo. By Mr. Polwhele, of Polwhele, in Cornwall. 10s. 6d. Cadell.

(Continued from Vol. XXIV. Page 363.)

THE fubject of Mr. Polwhele's Third Section is "the Religion of Danmonium in the British period." Here it must be owned, that he derives great fupport to his hypothefis of the Eaftern origin of the Danmonians. Druidifm undoubtedly bears a ftrong refemblance to the religion of Afia. This affinity is ftrikingly delineated by our ingenious hiftorian in a correct view of every part of the Druidical religion, their fyftematic theology, their popular fuperftitions, and their myftical rites. "In what confecrated laces or temples thefe religious rites

were celebrated," fays Mr. Polwhele, "feems to be the next enquiry; and it appears, that they were, for the most part, celebrated in the midst of groves. The myfterious filence of an ancient wood diffufes even a fhade of horror over minds that are yet fuperior to fuperftitious credulity. The majestic gloom, therefore, of their confecrated oaks muft have impreffed the lefs informed multitude with every fenfation of awe that might be neceffary to the fupport of their religion, and the dignity of the priesthood. The religious wood was generally fituated on the top of a

hill or a mountain, where the Druids erected their fanes and their altars.The temple was feldom any other than a rude circle of rock perpendicularly, raifed. An artificial pile of large flat tone, in general, compofed the altar; and the whole religious mountain was ufually enclofed by a low mound, to prevent the intrusion of the profane. Among the primeval people of the Eaft, altars were inclofed by groves of trees; and thefe groves confifted of plantations of oak. Abram paffed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the oak of Morch; and the Lord appeared unto Abram; and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him befide the oak of Moreh."

Mr. Polwhele combats with dexterity and fuccefs the arguments that have been urged by fome eminent antiquarians for the mere European origin of Druidifm, particularly thofe of that refpectable writer Dr. Borlafe.

Danmonian city muft immediately fuggeft the idea of the original Exeter, even to those who have never feen the modern. But, whoever has vifited the modern Exeter, muit inftantly recognize it in the Karnbre coin. It exhioits a very good ground-plot of Exeter. We have here the Fore-ftreet, froin Eaft to Weft, running through the city in ftraight lines. And there is a wonderful accuracy in the plan. The Foreftreet does not pafs through the centre of it,, but the larger part of the plot lies to the South, and the fmaller ieg ment to the North; which is precifery true of the city of Exeter. Surely this was not a random plot of fome British town. Though, poffibly, the other streets that interfect it may not bear examination, as compared with the prefent Exeter, yet it fufficiently refemoles the modern city to be received as an engraving of the ancient. What should rather excite our admiration is, that this engraving thould be fo fimilar to the prefent Exeter, allowing for the alterations in the treets and buildings in fuch a courfe of time. That this is the ichnography of the British Exeter, is certainly a new difcovery, and, on account or its novelty, will be regarded at leaft with a fufpicious eye. But if the coin on which it is found be British, which Borlafe has clearly proved, ic is, affuredly, the ichnography of a British city. And, if it repretent a British city, has not Exeter, for the reafons I have ftated, the beft claim to be confidered as its archetype? At all events, it corroborates our argument in favour

The Fourth Section comprifes "A View of the Civil, Military, and Religious Architecture of Danmonium." Though the antients have left us but very vague and imperfect accounts of the British habitations, yet our author has carefully gathered all that could be found on the fubject, and placed the whole in a pleafing and ftriking point of view. In order to prove, that the Danmonians had fome tolerable tafte in architecture, Mr. Polwhele has ventured to hazard one conjecture, which will appear to many to be a bold one. For our parts, however, we are pleafed with the ingenuity and the decifivenefs of it. In 1749 was found a British gold coin at Karnbre, in this county, on which is engraved the plan of a city. A view and defcription of it is to be found in Borlafe's Antiquities of Cornwall, where it is faid, that the coin "has feveral parallel lines fashioned into fquares, looking like the plan of a Jown; of which the streets crofs nearly at right angles, and the whole is cut by one ftraight and wider ftreet than the reft." Mr. Polwhele obferves, "I am rather furprized that Dr. Borlafe fhould have thus remarked upon the ground-plot of his city, without ventaring to conjecture what city it was. The gold coin on which this plan is. The civil architecture of the Briexhibited, is evidently a coin of the tons having thus been placed in a Britons. It represents a British city; more refpectable light than it has geand it was found in Dannonium. Is it nerally been confidered, their military not natural to fuppofe then, that this muft proportionably rife in efteem. was a city of Danmonium, and pro- Mr. Polwhele is diffufe in his view of bably the metropolis? This plan of the the British fortifications, but he is much

of the British Architecture. It not only corroborates our argument, but it decides upon the point with the most happy precifion. It diffipates from our minds every doubt of the British skill in building, whiift it exhibits a large city with one grand ftreet stretching through the length of it, and a variety of interior streets paffing in different directions through the whole. After all this difquifition, we may fafely, I think, conclude, that the Ifca Danmoniorum was no mean fortrefs in the woods, but a metropolis of the Western kingdom, well worthy the oriental genius."

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