well that the author has here taken care to designate this pious minister by his function; otherwise, we might have been led to suppose him to have meant another minister, who, on one of our late fast-days, is reported to have enjoyed the luxury of fasting in a very eminent degree, so as naturally to have drawn from him that rapturous exclamation, O the luxury of fasting!—However, as this report has been formally and solemnly contradicted; and as Mr. Meredith acquaints us that the words were ejaculated by a judicious and pious minister of the gospel; we may, with the strictest propriety, imagine them to have proceeded, on a similar occasion, from the lips of some eminent dignitary of our church. It is but justice to add that these Essays seem to be written with very sincere intentions, and that the style is not so inelegant as that which some years ago characterised the productions of the class to which they belong. Art. 30. Three Sermons, addressed to Old, Middle-aged, and Young People. By John Townsend. 8vo. pp. 92. 1s. 6d. Matthews. The author, in an advertisement prefixed, modestly assures us that these sermons are inferior to thousands of discourses which never have seen, and probably never will see the light; that they are very plain sermons indeed, and suited only for plain serious readers.' To this we shall add that, though other divines may shine more before their polished hearers, by the brilliancy of their style and the harmony of their periods, yet there is such a strain of interesting and honest zeal in these discourses, that Mr. T., after having turned many to righteousness, may hereafter shine (together with more courtly preachers) like a star of no inferior magnitude.-They are, however, composed somewhat too much in the methodistic strain, to please those who are more attached to what is understood by the denomination of rational Christianity. Art. 31. A Word of gentle Admonition to Mr. Gilbert Wakefield: occasioned by his Letter to William Wilberforce, Esq. on the Subject of his late Publication. By J. Watkins, LL.D. PP. 50. IS. Cawthorn. 1797. 8vo. We believe that neither Mr. Wakefield nor the public, nor, perhaps, Dr. Watkins himself, will be much benefited by this admonition. In spirit and language, it is at least as ungentle as any of Mr. Wakefield's remonstrances. As a reply to what Dr. Watkins calls ⚫ this abominable address to Mr. Wilberforce,' it contains no apology for that gentleman's political conduct, the chief point on which Mr. Wakefield insists; and it offers no justification of his notions concerning the present state of religion, that can claim the attention of any intelligent and dispassionate inquirer. Art. 32. Two short Discourses on the Manner of Christ's Teaching, The two former of these sermons are abridged from Dr. Leland and Mr. Bourne. The editor, who is, we believe, Mr. Charles worth, worth, is performing a good work, in thus providing short and useful discourses for families or the pulpit. Art. 34. The Ordination Service at Bishop Stortford, on the Settlement of the Rev. W. Chaplin in the Co-pastorship of the Rev. John Angus, A. M. August 23, 1797; containing an Introduc tory Discourse, by John Jennings. Mr. Chaplin's Avowal of his leading Sentiments in Theology. The Charge addressed to Mr. Chaplin, by Nathaniel Jennings. The Sermon to the People, by Samuel Palmer. 8vo. pp. 73. Is. 6d. Jennings. This publication contains the usual parts of an ordination service among the Dissenters. The introductory discourse, by Mr. Jennings, concisely and sensibly explains the nature of a Christian church and the province of its offices. The charge, by Mr. N. Jennings, offers to the ordained serious and, on the whole, judicious advice, on the discharge of his duty as a Christian minister, from 1 Tim. iv. 16. The sermon, by Mr. S. Palmer, explains, from Luke viii. 15, how and with what views the people ought to hear the word, or come to church for instruction. In this address, Mr. P. has suggested many things which merit the attention of the great mass of professing Christians; and among these he has inculcated an early attendance on divine worship,-a point on which exhortation is become peculiarly necessary. Under the fear of arriving too soon at church, persons are generally too late: but this fear results from a want of consideration. The younger Pliny says, Mirè enim silentio mens alitur; and perhaps, if people were to acquire the habit of assembling in our churches and places of worship some minutes before the service began, and employed those minutes in silent meditation, their minds would be better prepared for devotion and instruction. The confession, or, as it is called in the title, the avowal, displays Mr. Chaplin's genius and ingenuity. It will, however, lead some to think that the faith of which he made a confession will undergo some alteration, as he proceeds in his endeavours, which he promises to do, to renounce the prejudices of education and to shun the trammels of system.' When he fairly weighs the power and meaning of words, he probably will not be so partial as he now is to certain fashionable theological expressions. There is an important sense in which the righteousness of Christ may be asserted to be a benefit to his disciples: but when it is considered that righteousness is a moral quality of the mind, as health and strength are physical qualities of the body, is the idea conveyed by the word imputation strictly correct?-what should we say of imputing roundness to a triangle? Mr. C. mentions his decided conviction of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures; and, as a proof how well this was founded, he takes notice that God must have presided over the prophets and apostles: but what then? The great question is about the historians. Is it necessary that the author or compiler of the books of Kings and Chronicles was inspired? Is there any evidence of the fact? Is it even probable? MATHE MATHEMATICS, &c. Art. 35. The Almanack for the Year 1797, according to the true Time, as regulated by the Sun's Course and the Seasons: with corres ponding Days of the usual (though false) Style. 12mo. Dublin, printed. 1797. The imperfection of every existing Calendar is well known; and it is therefore needless to cite authorities on a point so obvious and so generally allowed:-but reformation of every kind is a difficult and hazardous undertaking. Innovations, even, that are manifest improvements, alarm prejudice and excite opposition. We need only appeal to the history of the alterations that have taken place with regard to the Calendars of different countries, for the truth of this observation. How slow was the progress of the Gregorian reformation! with what opposition and clamour it had to contend before it was generally adopted! "To change the observance of certain religious feasts, which have been long fixed to particular days," says a popular writer," is looked upon as an impious innovation; and though the times of the events, upon which those ceremonies depend, be utterly unknown, it is no matter: the Glastonbury thorn blooms upon Christmas-day, and this country has never flourished since that festival was altered." The plan suggested by the author of the pamphlet now before us would be a real improvement: but we doubt whether it would be of sufficient importance and utility to engage public attention and sup port, and to induce any vigorous efforts for its introduction. Trivial as it may seem, and easy to be established, it would probably at the present period require more than the mathematical reasoning of a Macclesfield, and the popular cloquence of a Chesterfield, to ensure the adoption of it. Our author's very reasonable proposal is that the year should commence at the vernal equinox; that the month of March should include 31 days from the 20th of the present month to the 19th of April; that April should begin with the 20th day and terminate with the 19th of May, &c.; and that, with this alteration, the spring quarter should be the interval between the vernal equinox and summer solstice, and comprehend the three months of March, April, and May; the summer include the months of June, July, and August, or the period between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox; the autumn, the next 3 months, from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice; and the winter, the interval between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, or the 3 months of December, January, and February; and that the public festivals, &c. should be assigned to their appropriate days in the Calendar according to this reformed state of it. We cannot but observe that such a Calendar would have no fixed period for its commencement, as the vernal equinox is a variable epoch; and that it would not serve the purpose of indicating the seasons in different latitudes. Many temporary inconveniences would attend the alterations that must take place with regard to holidays, &c.; nor do the advantages accruing from such a Calendar seem to be sufficient to counterbalance these these inconveniences, and to furnish such pleas as would overcome the opposition of prejudice; which any innovation, however reasonable and useful, would unavoidably occasion. POLITICAL, &c. Art. 36. The Voice of Truth to the People of England, of all Ranks and Descriptions, on occasion of Lord Malmesbury's Return from Lisle. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Rivingtons. An highly animated address to the general mass of the British public, exhorting them to persist with renewed vigor, and even with a laudable excess of national animosity, in carrying on the war against France; and never to sheath the sword till an honorable peace can be procured by it, in preference to the humiliating method of negociation. We question, however, whether the author does not himself defeat his own purpose, by dealing too much in exaggeration; for, if every thing that he has asserted against the French in the heat of declamation, and that he has advanced in order to blacken the mal-contents in England, (whom he constantly styles Jacobins,) should not be able to stand the most rigid scrutiny, the exposure of the smallest appearance of misrepresentation may do much towards invalidating the credit of his whole performance. Thus, for instance, should it seem, (whether with sufficient reason or not,) to any of his readers, that, in the overflow of his abho.rence, he has visited the sins of the Robespierrian tyranny on the moral characters of the living rulers in France, will it not be natural for them to conclude that even to the Voice of Truth it is not always safe to listen without some degree of caution? Art. 37. The Impolicy of partial Taxation demonstrated; particularly as it respects the Exemption of the Highlands of Scotland from a great Part of the Licence Duty chargeable on the Distillation of Corn-Spirits. 8vo. Is. Printed at Edinburgh, and sold by Debrett in London. 1797. This well-written pamphlet exposes the impolicy of our legislation respecting the distilleries, with great strength of argument, though in moderate and respectful language. The whole of the contest be tween the Scotch and the English distillers, respecting the distilleries and the modification of the excise laws, would afford a most interesting study to the man who wished to obtain a clear idea of the way in which concealed influence usually operates in affecting the laws of a great nation, were the whole developed with perspicuity in a separate work, by a person who had this object chiefly in view. To the minister, if ever such an one shall be found, who should have the advancement of the revenue and the general prosperity of the people at heart, such a performance would prove still more interesting; because it would enable him to perceive the arts that were employed to give plausibility to falsehoods, and the powerful manner in which ini quitous laws opera e in decreasing the revenue; by depressing one set of men, and thus rendering them incapable of affording even a portion of those taxes which they could otherwise have been well able to pay, and by exalting on the other hand another set of men above the influence of the officers appointed to enforce the law, and thus enabling them to accumulate immense wealth by putting into their Rev. Nov. 1797A a own own pockets enormous sums, which the law had appropriated to the public exigencies of the state. From the little tract before us, a slight idea of these consequences may be obtained: but to exhibit them fully would require a work on a much more extensive scale. The chief scope of this pamphlet is to shew the impolicy of making a distinction between the duties imposed on stills in the highlands and the lowlands of Scotland; and, from the representation here given, it seems difficult to withhold our assent to that proposition. We are fully satisfied that, at the present erisis, when the difficulty of devising ways and means for public exigencies is confessedly great, noi one measure that could be proposed would tend more effectually to augment the revenue, and at the same time to promote the internal peace and prosperity of the nation, than that of putting the distilleries in every part of the kingdom on the same footing, and subjecting the whole to the payment of an equal duty on the contents of the still: but we have not the most distant idea that the minister, even at the present time, will venture on this measure, when opposed by such a powerful body of men as the London distillers; who have been so long accustomed to lead the legislature, in regard to this particular, wherever they pleased. NOVELS. Art. 38. Azemia; a descriptive and entertaining Novel: interspersed with Pieces of Poetry. By Jacquetta Agneta Mariana Jenks, of Belgrove Priory in Wales. 12mo. 2 Vols. 75. sewed. Low. 1797. The remarks which occurred to us lately in reviewing an ingenious Rhapsodical Romance intitled "Modern Novel-writing, by the Right Hon. Lady Harriet Marlow," will apply, with little variation, to the present production; which seems, in no small degree, an imitation of Lady Harriet's performance*. Azemia [we mean the Book, not the character so named] is an entertaining compound of good taste and good writing, just satire and whimsical fancy ;—adjuncts which, under the direction of GENIUS, (as in the case before us,) whatever be the singularities or defects of the composition, can never fail of producing a work that will prove acceptable to many readers, not of the class to which one of our poets of the last century alludes in the following characteristic line: "The mob of Gentlemen, who write with ease." To the present work, the writer has added what be † terms criticisms anticipated;' in which he presumes what the Reviewers will say of his Azemia; and in these pleasant anticipations, he takes care to make the criticisers all run on the wrong side of the post : or, to bring the comparison nearer home, we might say, he reminds us of Milton's sublime metaphysicians, who talked "Much of the soul,-but all awry." * See Review, N. S. vol. xx. p. 477. We beg pardon of Miss Jacquetta-what are the rest of her hard ames?-but we believe that no more of the feminine gender belongs to her, than to her Right Hon. cousin, Lady Harriet Marlow. Art |