The volume is neatly printed, and has the farther illustration of a small general map of England; on which the mail-coach roads throughout the kingdom are seen at once distinct from others, by being marked with double lines. It appears to us that the book will be found eminently serviceable to those who employ their time in travelling, whether for the purposes of business, health, or pleasure; although, in such a multiplicity of statements, room for future corrections and additions will doubtless be observed, and in every such case, the observer would do well in transmitting his corrections to Mr.Cary, in order to render the work as perfect as its nature will admit. Art. 43. Estelle, Pustorale. Par M. de Florian. 12 mo. PP. 244. Dulau. 1798. Of this pleasing and moral production, Mr. Dulau has here given a neat edition. It has already appeared in an English translation, by a young lady of eighteen; whose performance was duly noticed in our Review for February, p. 213. Art. 44. Eleonora. Novella Morale scritta sulla traccia d'un Pocmetto Inglese tradotto dal Tedesco. Trattenimento Italico di Mrs. Taylor. 12m0.. Clarke, Edwards, &c. Of Mr. Spencer's version of Bürger's Lenore, this is an Italian Prose translation by an English kady; whom we cannot better praise than in the words of Dante: " Io non ho lodi onde il tuo nome fregi: Art. 45. Thoughts on the Necessity of Moral Discipline in Prisons, as preliminary to the religious Instruction of Offenders, &c. &c. By Thomas Bowen, M. A. Chaplain of Bridewell Hospital, and Minister of Bridewell Precinct. 8vo. IS. Rivingtons. 1798. Among the many charities which reflect honour on the present age, the attention paid to the distresses and sufferings of those unhappy persons who are confined in our prisons is not the least meritorious. The name of Howard is never mentioned but with re spect and admiration; and many have been led, by his example, to pursue the same course of active benevolence. Much has been done for the regulation of our prisons, and the amelioration of the condition and morals of the prisoners: but every abuse is not yet rectified; and the great art of rendering criminals, by salutary punishment, useful members of society, is not yet discovered. At the same time, no one will deny that the reformation of the offender is the object of the greater part of our penal laws. We may, therefore, consider every person, who offers any new thoughts on this subject, as a friend to his country. The author of the tract now before us, whose situation must render him well acquainted with the misery which he compassionates, * See M. Rev. N. S. vol. xx. p. 451. and and wishes to mitigate, recommends a strict observance of religious duties in our prisons; and he is of opinion that a peculiar form of prayer, appropriate to the situation and circumstances of the pri soners, might have a striking and salutary effect. Idleness he conceives to be the source of numberless evils in our prisons, particularly as it frequently disqualifies a man, on his entering again into society, from procuring a subsistence by his labour. He likewise thinks that it would contribute to the reformation of manners, if discharged convicts of a particular class should be banished from the metropolis; which he terms the source and sink of corruption. These and several other opinions here advanced are deserving of consideration; and we cannot but applaud the good intentions of the benevolent author, the justice of his observations, and the modesty with which he delivers his sentiments. Art. 46. Sentimental and Humorous Essays, conducive to Economy and Happiness. Drawn from Common Sayings and Subjects, which are full of Common Sense, the best Sense in the World. By Noah Webster, Author of The Effects of Slavery*, &c. In the Manner of Dr. Franklin. 12mo. IS. Half bound. Arch. 1798. As the shadow resembles the substance which creates it, so does the manner of Mr. Webster resemble that of Dr. Franklin: there is something of the form, but nothing of the substance. In our Review for July 1797, p. 356, we announced two miscelJaneous volumes of Mr. Webster's productions. The collection of Observations and Maxims now before us, by the same author, (as well as the Effects of Slavery mentioned in the above title-page,) were originally printed at New-York, and are now reprinted for more general circulation: but, we apprehend, the wise and the prudential counsels which they contain are more happily adapted to American circumstances and manners, than to those of the common people of this country. We need not enlarge on the present article, as we gave a character of the original edition in our Number for September 1795, р. 105. Art. 47. Moral Contrasts; or the Power of Religion exemplified under different Characters. By William Gilpin, Prebendary of Salisbury, and Vicar of Boldre, in New Forest. Small 8vo. pp. 234. 3s. 6d. stitched. Cadell jun. and Davies. 1798. Mr. Gilpin is well known to the public by several ingenious and useful works: among others, his small tracts, such as the histories of John Trueman and Richard Atkins, and his funeral sermon for a day labourer of the name of Baker, &c. &c. all intended chiefly for the lower ranks of society, have been well accepted, and have probably proved not the least valuable. The present little volume takes a different line, and is intended principally for those in higher stations, though all persons may derive benefit from it. The memoirs of Mr. Willoughby and Sir James Leigh, both young men of rank and for * See M. R. vol. xxiv. N. S. p. 444. tune, tune, are happily contrasted. The latter is educated according to the more prevalent mode; going first to a public school, thence to the university, and thence to travel abroad. The former is trained more directly under the eye of a wise and religious father, seconded by the tuition of a pious and learned clergyman; who, excepting the care of a parish, has no other charge. Impiety, profusion, immorality, and ruin, attend Sir James; while Willoughby appears, amid affluence, with honour and usefulness of the truest kind: integrity, benevolence, and virtue adorn his life, and accompany him with satisfaction and enjoyment to the end of his days. To the above, which are fictitious characters, two others are added taken from real life.. One of them is that of the Earl of Rochester, well remembered for the wicked course which he ran in the licentious court of Charles the Second, and also for the bitter compunction and horror which signalized his latter days. The accounts formerly published by Mr. Parsons and the Bishop of Salisbury are abridged, and they are improved by Mr. Gilpin's language and manner. The last narrative in the book is very interesting and very extraordinary., Naimbanna, an African prince, was (with the consent and at the de sire of his father) brought over to England by the Sierra Leone company. The treatment which he received, and the assistance and instruction which he obtained, reflect great honour on that respectable body: being made acquainted with the Christian doctrine, he heartily embraced it; not according to those farcical conversions which a mercenary policy has sometimes dictated and proclaimed: but, persuaded of the truth of Christianity, he in an edifying and distinguished manner made it the rule of his practice. This promising young man died just as he had again reached his native shore.For other particulars, we must refer the reader to the volume; which we close with that hearty approbation, and those good wishes for its success, which it so justly merits. We shall conclude this article by quoting the apology, which Mr. Gilpin supposes may be due for mixing fiction and reality in the same work: • In real characters (says Mr. G.) we cannot always procure the several circumstances and positions in life we wish to exhibit. And as to the impropriety of mixing them, (here) in fact, I am inclined to consider them all of the same species. The two first of these memoirs do not mean to recommend themselves under the idea of fiction, but as pictures drawn from the life. If indeed they had been embellished with romantic or unnatural circumstances, they could not certainly have united with real life. In that case --Nec pes nec caput uni Reddatur forme.— But I suppose there is not a single incident in these fictions which hath not been exemplified at different times in a thousand instances in real life; though perhaps they never all met together in any two persons. They differ therefore, I conceive, from real life no otherwise, than as a landscape composed from selected parts of various countries differs from the portrait of some real scene. Both are REV. SEPT. 1798. equally I equally copies from nature. Nay, perhaps, the fictitious character is the more natural one. The deep repentance of Lord Rochester, and the ingenuous mind of Naimbanna, which these pages present, are circumstances full as much, I fear, out of the common road of nature, as any which occur in the two former of these memoirs.' Art. 48. The Insufficiency of the Light of Nature: exemplified in the Vices and Depravity of the Heathen World. Including some Strictures on Paine's " Age of Reason." 8vo. pp. 85. Is. 6d. Arch. 1797. Though Nature, or, to speak more properly, the Visible Creation, is a book of knowlege, it must be conceded by the ingenuous deist, that the entire evidence of antient history proves that mankind did not, in any age or country, ever make any proficiency in religious knowlege, while they enjoyed no higher source of information. Whenever, therefore, popular declamation on the all-sufficiency of the light of nature subsides, and the appeal shall be fairly made to matter of fact, the Christian will be found to have the best side of the argument. Dr. Leland, and many others, have adduced a mass of evidence in confirmation of this position; and the judicious author of the pamphlet before us, pursuing the same plan, has brought together and condensed, for the information and conviction of the general reader, a variety of extracts and observations which shew the real state of the Heathen world. When revelation is discarded as an unnecessary intruder, it is but fair to ask what religious or moral system can be traced, in all the admired writings of antiquity, which is comparable to that which the New Testament exhibits? Did the wise men of Chaldea and Egypt, or the sages of Greece and Rome, deliver such just sentiments of God, or inculcate so pure a morality? Did not the little nation of the Jews, previously to the Christian æra, stand single in the acknowlegement of the Unity of God, and in the renunciation of idol worship? On a fair comparison of the world without revelation, with the world with it, as to the state of religious knowlege subsisting in each, the Christian may venture to rest the important question at issue between him and the unbeliever. The present pamphlet is valuable, as it will assist those, who have neither leisure nor learning to consult original authors, in making the comparison; and surely no man of "a sound mind" can wish for the return of such an age of reason as existed before the birth of Christ. May it not be also presumed that the knowlege of the Deity, by means of his revelation, has been instrumental to the introduction of a purer and nobler philosophy than existed in antecedent periods? Mr. Paine, however, tells us that he does not recollect a single passage in the books of the N. T. which conveys an idea of what God is. The author of this pamphlet properly remarks that Paine must have read them very superficially, and only in order to cavil at them, since he does not recollect Paul's excellent address to the Athenian philosophers. After having compared this address with the universal language of the Heathens respecting the gods, Mr. P.'s assertion in the "Age of Reason" falls to the ground when he says that " The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system." It is conrary to the FACT. This pamphlet contains, in addition to its view of the Heathen world, some observations on the fulfilment of the Scripture prophecies, which are well worthy of attention. We have perused the whole, indeed, with pleasure: but it would have been more valuable, had the author marked in the margin the places whence he made his quotations. RELIGIOUS and POLEMICAL. Art. 49. A Defence of the late National Fast, on Principles of true Religion and sound Policy. By Thomas Wood. 8vo. Is. Law. 1798. A former work by this author was noticed in our Review for March 1798, p. 353. In the present performance, he writes in a manner becoming a man of sense, and of classical and biblical knowlege. We will not dispute with him the lawfulness of defensive war : under this head he notices the respectful manner in which some soldiers are mentioned in the scriptures, whence he proceeds to relate an instance or two of Englishmen who, animated by religion, behaved with uncommon bravery and intrepidity. Certainly, no consideration is so well fitted to sustain and inspire a man, in the season of danger, as a consciousness that he is in the path of his duty: but, respecting common soldiers, it is not generally supposed that they are much acquainted with the rectitude or justice of the cause in which they fight; their business is obedience to orders. Those who are here specified appear to have been of the methodistical cast. The arguments here offered in support of seasons for public hu miliation are of the usual kind, but pertinent and forcible; without inquiring into the political views with which they may be appointed. Art. 50. An Answer to some Passages in a Letter from the Bishop of Rochester to the Clergy, upon the Lawfulness of Defensive War. By a Clergyman of the Church of England. 8vo. 6d. Darton and Harvey. Mr. J. Bradley Rhys, whose name appears at the close of this pamphlet, considers the encouragement given to those clergymen who have taken up arms, by the Bishop of Rochester, in his pastoral letter, as an offence against the spirit of Christianity. The Bishop asserts, "as a notorious fact," that some of the early Christians were soldiers: but against the authenticity of this fact Mr. R. strenuously contends. He says that it might be maintained, with equal appearance of truth, that St. Matthew continued to be a publican and Mary Magdalene a harlot, as that Cornelius pursued his profession as a soldier, after having been severally converted to the Christian faith. Mr. R. is frequently vehement in his language; and he urges, as decisive proofs of the decline of Christianity, • That, in a Christian senate one voice, (eternal Author of Peace!) and more than one, was heard to approve the damnable traffic in the human species, and, where Christian bishops sat, men unreproved declared their sentiments against the deeds of mercy, pleading for the necessity of trepanning the injured negro from his quiet home; that Christian senators, men high in the estimation of their country, met each other for the direct purpose of assassination, in defiance of every 12 |