NOAH, we find accordingly a fublime agreement between the long lives of men in these two periods, and the rapidity as well of the population as of the advancement of the arts, of which we find the traces fo fimply exposed in the narrative of Moses; for it would be easy to prove that this long term of life quadrupled at least every effect that the fame length of time would have produced among men whofe lives would have been only of the prefent duration. But when the human race was renewed on continents which the fea could no more overwhelm, and had fo multiplied, that men would by degrees crowd together on the fame parts of the earth, it was a fublime difpenfation of the wisdom of the CREATOR, to fhorten human life, fince it fhortened the dominion of the paffions of individuals.

51. In thus terminating the phyfical explanation of the eleven first chapters of GENESTS, containing the hiftory of the earth, from the epoch, when light was first added to the other elements which compofe it, to the time of the calling of ABRAHAM, I feel it incumbent on me to recapitulate the motives that have led me to these investigaWhat can we determine with certainty refpecting the origin and nature of MAN, without knowing his hiftory?-How can we know any thing of the biftory of Man, except we know fufficiently the hiftory of the planet he inhabits?-How can we learn the history of this planet, without studying the monuments of its revolutions, and all that Natural Philofophy can discover to us of their caufes? Such are the questions that have induced me to devote near 50 years of my life to thefe ftudies, including the hiftory of MAN himself; and as they have contributed more and more to imprefs on my mind a firm faith in our holy religion, I have found the reward of my labours in an inward fatisfaction, that the viciffitudes of my life, have never been able to shake.

52. GOD, by inviting us in his Revelation to ftudy Nature, has laid a foundation for the re-establishment of the faith, when the lapfe of time, and the caprices of fancy and paffion, would have led the way to incredulity among mankind. Faith had been gradually eftablished by prodigies, of which men had themselves been witnesses, and which they had tranfmitted to their fucceffors; and now it is fupported by proofs of the existence of the earliest and most important of thefe prodigies, which will ferve gradually to diffipate the obfcurities produced by the fabulous accounts of Nature, which men, who pretended to enlighten the world, have propagated. Then will mankind generally acknowledge a SUPREME LAWGIVER, who has given them rules and inftructions; and they will in the end discover how much it concerns them to liften only to HIM.

I have now, Sir, finished that abstract of my Geological enquiries, and of their results, which you thought would be fufficient to enable thofe already versed in the study of thefe phænomena, to comprehend the whole of their connections, and to excite in others the defire of fixing their attention on fo important a fubject: but if it may answer your expectation in the first inftance, I doubt of its fuccefs in the laft. The objects of Geology are very numerous; they can only intere when they are fo understood as to reflect light on each other; they

will remain dark if not fufficiently explained, and then no intereft can be produced. This, I fear, may have been the cafe with many readers of these extracts; but as they have the fame intereft as the learned to know what foundation our faith derives from Nature, I think it my duty to refume the fame plan on a larger scale, in order to explain the whole in fuch a manner that every attentive perfon, of a common degree of information, may be fo forwarded in Geology as to find readily new fources of knowledge in a multitude of common objects, which remain filent for those who want previous information. This I have undertaken in a work which I intend to publish.

I am, dear Sir,

With much Regard,

Yours, &c. &c.

DE LUC.

DOMESTIC

DOMESTIC LITERATURE.

A fplendid work is preparing at Liverpool, by Mr. Roscoe. Its title is, the Life of Lorenzo de Medici the Magnificent. It will extend to two volumes quarto.

Mr. Dunfter, whofe tafte and talents have already been well approved by the public, is employed on a new edition of Milton's Paradife Regained, with notes, which will very foon

appear.

We may also expect, in a quarto volume, an account of Tours in the North and in Scotland, by Henry Skrine, Efq.

Profeffor Martyn's edition of Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, will certainly appear on the first of June, in numbers at one fhilling, and in parts at about twelve shillings.

The Rev. Mr. Henley, of Hendlefham, has been able, by the aid of fome Afiatic, and in particular, fome Phoenician coins, to afcertain several important points of Biblical Chronology, his opinions on which fubjects will foon be published under the title of "Illuftrations of Ancient History and the Prophetic Scriptures, with a Verification of the LXX Weeks of Daniel, from coins and documents not hitherto applied."

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

M. Gotthelf Schawne has our thanks for his obliging communication, of which he will fee we have availed ourselves.

Similar acknowledgments are due to our correfpondent near Petworth.

We are much obliged to Etonenfis for his communication, but as we had pledged ourselves to compare only certain published works on that fubject, we could not take the benefit, in this instance, of his learning, ingenuity, and kindness.

On the fenfible Letter figned T. B. P. we have only to remark, that we did not mean to speak with coldness on the subject to which the writer refers, but with caution only, as we would not be too eager in propofing alterations; and with the lefs vehemence, because we conceive all fuch expreffions, both in Scripture, and copied from it, to be limited by many implied conditions.

ART. I. An Enquiry into the Duties of Men, in the higher and middle Claffes of Society in Great Britain, refulting from their refpective Stations, Profeffions, and Employments. By Thomas Gisborne, M. A. 4to. 646 pp. 11. Is. White. 1794.

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Work fo comprehenfive as the prefent cannot adequately be appreciated, but by a deputation of examiners from every clafs of fociety in this kingdom, each employed to weigh the value and the practicability of the precepts in his own particular line. Such an appreciation it will obtain in time by the public voice, which will give the general refult of opinions pronounced by readers of all defcriptions, and which, if we do not deceive ourselves, will, on the whole, be very favourable. It seems to us that the book bears evident marks of that judicious care which the author profeffes to have taken, to obtain thofe decifions à priori, by founding his instructions on the advice and information of fuch perfons as must finally be his judges." The endeavours," he fays, "which I have ftudioully made to derive intelligence from various quarters, respecting the several topics I have had to difcufs, have been

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amply