he observed an elderly lady and gentleman fix an evident and marked attention on him. After some turns they at last stopped him, and the Duchess (of eccentric memory) said, " Sir, I don't know who you are or what you are, but so strongly do you resemble my poor dear Gay, we must be acquainted; you shall go home and sup with us; and if the minds of the two men accord, as do the countenances, you will find two cheerful old folks, who can love you well; and I think, (or you are an hypocrite,) you can as well deserve it." -The invitation was accepted, and, as long as the Duke and Duchess lived, the friendship was as cordial as uninterrupted; indeed, their society had so much of the play which genuine wit and goodness know how to combine, it proved to be among the most agreeable relaxations of his life.'

The volume contains a variety of letters, reports, &c. &c. relative to the objects of civil engineering, which cannot fail to be highly interesting to those who are in the same line in which Mr. Smeaton so conspicuously shone. The publication of the works reflects much honour on the liberality and zeal of the society, and particularly on the labours of its respectable com

mittee.

In what we have hitherto said of Mr. Smeaton, he has been considered as merely an engineer; yet from the accounts of his life, and from the testimony of his friends, (he is yet fresh in their memory,) we are enabled to state that he possessed other qualities than soundness of judgment and variety of invention; he was endowed with an uncommon simplicity of manners, great modesty, and a rare moderation in pecuniary ambition: to his family he was affectionate; and he laudably controlled, by the power of his reason, a temper which was constitutionally warm.

The individual recollection of the virtues of the man must however soon perish; and his fame must ultimately rest on the excellence and durability of his performances as an artist: but we are happy in remarking another addition to the list of those (and the list is comparatively but small) who have been both wise and good.

Concerning the utility of works like the present, and of the studies to which they have relation, it is needless to speak. It has been happily reserved for the enterprising artists of the present day to reach the true goal of science, which the sagacious philosophers of former times have pointed out: "Meta autem scientiarum vera et legitima, non alia est, quam ut dotetur vita bumana novis inventis et copiis."

REV. OCT. 1798.

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ART.

ART. XI. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Landaff in June 1798. By R. Watson, D. D. F. R. S. Bishop of Lan-. daff. 8vo. pp. 34- IS. Faulder.

THEright reverend author of this charge observes that it may be considered as a kind of supplement to his late "Address * to the People of Great Britain." Though it is a discourse from his episcopal chair, it is political rather than religious; and though addressed to the clergy of his Welsh diocese, it embraces subjects of the utmost importance to the whole kingdom. He urges the peculiar circumstances of the country as sufficient to justify him for inviting his clergy to political discussion; and he boldly avows the reflections and sentiments of his own mind, without wishing magisterially to dictate to his hearers, or to interfere with any man's freedom of thinking or judging. From the Bishop of Landaff, neither his clergy nor the public could expect, in times like these, a discourse merely on theological questions or church discipline. Indeed, his situation is chiefly political. As an enlightened statesman, who has much at stake, and who perceives the dreadful consequences of anarchy to all that is respectable in society, we are not surprised that he should embrace the opportunity of a visitation, to amplify the sentiments delivered in his late " Address."

We are clearly of opinion that, if ever there was a contest peculiarly serious and important, it is the present; that if ever there was an enemy to be dreaded, it is France under her present aspect, and with her present ambitious views;-and that if ever unanimity, courage, and true patriotism were necessary, they are so now: but we are also of opinion that the perils and difficulties of our situation ought to be contemplated through the clear medium of good sense, and not through the mist and fog of an alarmed and affrighted imagination.

It would give us concern to be even suspected of a wish to obstruct the Bishop of Landaff, for whom we cherish the sincerest respect, in the benevolent and patriotic purpose which he has in view in the present supplemental address; yet we cannot help remarking that it would perhaps have been more useful had it been less violent; and had the Bishop's animation been a little more restrained by the decorum and studied precision which should attach to the episcopal character. He exhorts his clergy, in giving those political admonitions and instructions which the times may require, 'always to remember that the mind of man yields to kindness and courtesy, to gentle language and sound argument; yet in the very next sentence

* See M. Rev. for February last, p. 215.

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he tells them that they will be guilty of no breach of Christian charity in the use of even harsh language, when they explain to their respective flocks the cruelties which the French have used in every country which they have invaded. Far from being unwilling to have the abominable cruelties and rapacities of the French exposed, we think that the interest of humanity is concerned in unveiling their treachery, ambition, injustice, and barbarity: but there was no occasion for intimating to the Welsh clergy that they may abuse them without bounds, and that harsh language was not inconsistent with Christian charity. Would it not have been better to have said-" It is charity to your country and to the world, to state the enormities which the French, under the notion of giving liberty and security, have committed in every country into which they have forced themselves:-yet the truest history will appear exaggerated,the mildest statement, harsh." This would be regarded as proceeding from a kind desire of informing; the other may tend only to inflame and goad to madness.

Dr. Watson justly observes that the strength and stability of all governments have much dependence on the opinions of those who are governed;' and proceeding on this point, he classes the opinions of men, with respect to the Constitution of Great Britain, under three heads.

• The Ist, is that of those, who think that every thing is so well arranged, that nothing can be altered for the better. - The 2d, is that of those, who are apprehensive, that without a Reform in Parliament, the Government of the country will be insensibly changed from a limited to an absolute monarchy. The 3d, is that of those, who esteem the constitution so vitiated by corruption, that it cannot be amended, and that it ought to be changed into a republic.'

The Bishop of Landaff does not entirely adopt any one of these opinions. The first and last he rejects without hesitation; and as to the second, though he allows that some things may be improved in the church and the state, he tells us not only that this is not the time for reformation, but that he has seen no plan of parliamentary reform, produced either by the minister or his opponents, which went, in his judgment, to the root of the malady; and that, unless the reform reaches the root of the evil, the disease will be more tolerable than the remedy. He does not enlarge on the idea of alterations in the church, his mind being wholly engrossed by the state. He seems desirous of steering a middle course between that of the advocates for the practical perfection of the present system, and that of those (we believe the number to be very, very inconsiderable !) who desire a British Republic: but if the wisest and most ex perienced men in the kingdom are unable to project any plan of reform by which the system can be amended, and the Bishop declares this to be his sentiment, he in words rejects but in fact admits the first opinion.

We shall pass over the Bishop's remarks on the subjects of Liberty, Equality, and the Rights of Man. They are stale topics; and we are weary of them. In disliking democracy, he thinks with the great majority of the people of this country. What its effects in France have been, we know; and we may be confident that it will falsify all romantic expectations from it. I do not say (observes the R. R. writer) that when things are settled there, the present wretched condition of its inhabitants will be continued; I hope it will not; but I am sincerely of opinion that few of us will live to see such a system established in France, as will procure to its inhabitants half the blessings which our ancestors have enjoyed, which we enjoy, and which it is our interest to take care that our posterity enjoy, under the British Constitution.'

Bishop Watson is farther of opinion that the fabric of the French Republic cannot stand; and he wonders how any men can think of carrying on any government without the aid of religion. This brings him into his own appropriate province as a divine; in which he comments on the importance of the question concerning a future state, and endeavours to ascertain the antiquity of this belief. It was certainly an antient doctrine: but it does not appear that the Israelites were acquainted with it so early as he endeavours to prove; and that, 1500 years before the birth of Christ, they entertained the opinion that the soul of man was a substance distinct from the body, and existed, after death, in the earth, in a state of separation from it. The text which the R.R. author adduces does not prove this; and if it did, our Saviour, we conclude, would have quoted the fact in his discourse with the Sadducees, and not have deduced the doctrine of a future state as an inference. To us, however, it is clearly revealed; and it should not be forgotten in Christian exhortations.

On the fall of the church of Rome, the Bishop offers a few observations. After an extract from Calvin, in which that author undertakes to expose the private opinions of the Popes, and the whole college of Cardinals,-viz. that there is no God ;that all that is written, or taught, concerning Christ, is a lie and imposture; - and that the doctrine of a future state and resurrection from the dead is a mere fable*; -the Bishop exclaims, Gracious Heaven! If this be a true picture of the Roman Hierarchy, can we regret its fall?" All this violence

* Instit. L. 4. c. vii. § 27.

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of Calvin, however, he tells us, he does not admit; and we think that few others will. It better becomes us (he remarks) to examine ourselves, than to censure others; and there certainly is room for inquiry, whether all the Protestant churches are so pure in doctrine, so perfect in discipline, so truly Christian in practice, as to have nothing to fear for themselves from the fall of the church of Rome.'

This is indeed an important inquiry, and it cannot be instituted too soon. All the reform in the church, to which the Bishop points, respects the maintenance of curates:-but we question whether this will reach the root of the evil. Will the church be established on a rock, by making every living in the kingdom of not less value than 1001. a-year?

This Charge is published at the request of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the county of Monmouth.

ART. XII. Report from the Committee of Secrecy of the House of Commons of Ireland, as reported by the Right Hon. Viscount Castlereagh, 21st August 1798. 8vo. pp. 267. 4s. Debrett, London.

ART. XIII. Report from the Committee of Secrecy of the House of Lords of Ireland, as reported by the Right Hon. Earl of Clare, Lord High Chancellor, 30th August 1798. 8vo. pp. 53. 1s. 6d. Debrett, London.

THE HE late rebellion in Ireland has been by different parties attributed to opposite causes. By one party, it is said to have originated in an overbearing, corrupt, and persecuting system early adopted and unremittingly pursued by the Irish administration :-a system which, disregarding the reasonable wishes and earnest remonstrances of a loyal people, treated their claims with insolence, and their complaints with insult. To these original causes, they trace the first rise of discontent in Ireland; which, by a succession of irritating and impolitic severity, they say, was ultimately forced into treason and rebellion. By another party, the calamities which Ireland has lately suffered, the progress of sedition, and all the succeeding horrors of the late rebellion, are attributed in the first instance to the ambitious views and sinister opposition of a few leading demagogues; whose efforts to excite discontent in the people, against their governors, have been but too powerfully seconded by the introduction and growth of French principles among the Irish people, and by the co-operation of a republican faction; whose aim was self-aggrandisement; whose means were the separation of Ireland from Great Britain, and the substitu tion of republican government for the present constitution.

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