Paris together; and on their arrival at Florence, the refidence of the Count's parents, they are married. Their happiness, however, is of fhort duration; for, on a voyage to Smyrna, the fhip in which they embarked is attacked by a Corfair; and an action enfes which ends in the death of the Count and the captivity of his wife. Imminent was the danger to her chafity while immured in a feraglio at Tunis; but, being at length ranfomed, and fet on fhore in Spain, fhe meets with a fon of the celebrated Barneveldt, and a mutual affection is the confequence; in their journey, however, from Spain to Holland, they are intercepted by a party of robbers, and Madame de Barneveldt is thus prematurely deprived of her lover. She proceeds to Amfterdam, and thence to Dunkirk; where, meeting with an old monk, fhe is informed of the fecret of her birth, and the fad story of her mother, in fearch of whom the again departs: at Bruffels, the hears that Barneveldt is alive in Holland, and in high favour with the States General; a meffenger fent by her to the Hague confirms the joyful tidings, by returning accompanied by Barneveldt, who, though cruelly treated, had recovered from the wounds of the robbers; fhe alfo here meets with her long loft mother, and her marriage with Barneveldt concludes the ftory.

Our limits will not allow us to notice the various digreffions, confifting of the hiftory of the Barneveldts, and many fictitious stories, fome conducing to elucidate the main fable, and others entirely unconnected with it: thefe we omit, in order to give room for a few words on the merit of the tranflation. In the first place, there is a great want of a table of errata; for we can hardly imagine that the numerous inftances of vicious orthography, fuch as affimulate, combatting, unlofe for unloofe, and many others of the fame kind, are any thing elfe than errors of the prefs; we could hope alfo that the frequent ufe of who instead of whom, of the nominative I for the objec tive me, and of the fingular number for the plural, may have arifen from a flip of the pen, or fome other inadvertency. We cannot however, avoid remarking that to witnefs to the triumphs' and to fign to the destruction' are by no means ftrict idiomatical expreffons; that veiling themfelves under the fuffrage of difappointment' is a phrafe quite beyond our comprehenfion; and that carrying devoirs to the feet of a lady,' and not leaving her till fhe had fixed the day of our Hymen,' though very literal verfions from the French, are very miferable fpecimens of English.

12mo. 38.

Art. 57. The Ghoft-Seer; or Apparitionist. An interesting Fragment, found among the Papers of Count O*****. From the German of Schiller. Vernor and Hood. 1795. Frederick Schiller is by this time a popular writer with the British, and his name is fufficient to introduce even a fecond-rate work to general attention. The Ghoft-Seer is a novel of great originality. It as pointed out a new fource of the TERRIBLE, the purfuit of a influence over the invifible world,-and has given birth to imitations nearly as contemptible as they are multifarious. The extraordinary popularity of this tale in Germany was much favoured by the alluhons which it contains to thofe machinations of the myftics at Berlin, of which fome mention occurs in the 5ad and other letters of the Se

cret

cret Memoirs by Mirabeau. This fingular fect, which difperfed with affiduity the writings of Swedenborg, and the leaders of which laid claim to fupernatural illuminations and even to an intercouse with de parted fpirits, was fuppofed to be under the management of certain ex jefuits; who afpired, through their known influence over perfons of the firft confequence in Berlin, to re-establish catholicism in Pruffia; for which event the diffufion of fuperftitious books had a natural tendency to prepare the multitude. This influence, whether the result of a contemptible credulity, or of a deliberate plan to encourage those religious tenets which feem the most favourable to paffive obedience, naturally became obnoxious to the philofophical party, who, in writings of every form, endeavoured to render the purfuits of the myftics ridiculous and odious. They have probably fucceeded; and they have rewarded Schiller for the welcome aid derived to their caufe from this novel, by an applaufe which over-rates its merit. The story is left half-told, but it has been conducted by the author much farther than by his tranilator, who does not bring the reader acquainted with Civitella, with the infinuating Bicadello, nor with the beautiful Greek unknown. The tranflation is, however, with respect to language, well executed; and the work is interesting.

EDUCATION, SCHOOL BOOKS,

Art. 58. Rudiments of Conftructive Etymology and Syntax.

PP. 148. Is. fewed. Knott,

This little manual of English Grammar is drawn up with judgment, and is neatly printed. It is not intended to fuperfede, but to introduce, or accompany, more complete works on this fubject. The firft rudiments both of etymology and fyntax are clearly laid down thofe parts which are to be committed to memory are diftinctly printed on a large letter; the examples for exercife are chofen with tafte, and properly arranged; and the work is well fuited to anfwer the purpose of leading the young scholar, by eafy fteps, to a knowlege of the English language.

Art. 59. Juvenile Anecdotes; founded on Facts, collected for the Amusement of Children. By Prifcilla Wakefield, Author of Mental Improvement, Leifure Hours, &c. 12mo. pp. 140.

1s. 6d. Boards. Allen and West. 1795. We have not unfrequently of late years heard objections advanced againft that ufual, natural, and very antient vehicle of virtuous inftruction, the moral tale and fable. The real propriety and folidity of the objections are with us at least problematical; though any mode of information may be ill conducted, or carried to excefs. The argument, however, has certainly been useful, if, as this lady intimates, it gave rife to the pretty little volume before us. Perhaps, it may give the reader fome idea of its nature to infert a few of the titles:The child who did not know its own mind.-Edward Seymour, or a model for little boys to imitate.-The tureen of foup.-The evening walk. The jar of fweet-meats.-The little girl who loved praise. The triumph of reafon.-The hare. The fool's cap.-The advantage of confeffing a fault.-The Museum-ticket, or virtue never 13 lofes

lofes its reward.-The tops. The little wanderer.-The cock chaffer. The glass bottle.-The journal. The promise, &c. &c.

It appears to us that this lady has profecuted her intention in a very agreeable manner: the felection is judiciously made, fo as to be likely to intereft the imaginations of children, and place the virtues and faults incident to their time of life, in a perfpicuous point of view.' The accounts are generally, we are affured, founded on fact, and relate circumftances which fell under Mrs. Wakefield's own obfervations; indeed, this fmall publication may prove both pleafing and useful, pot only in the nursery but in the parlour: our late worthy friend, Mr. John Newbery, who very fuccefsfully cultivated the earlier branches of education, would have been delighted with it.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Art. 60. A Difcourfe on the Emigration of British Birds, &c. &c. &c. By a Naturalift. 8vo. pp. 64. 25. Walker. 1795. If arrogant and dogmatical affertions be at any time peculiarly offenfive, it is when the fubject demands a calm, difpaffionate inquiry into fats. The migration of birds is a topic of which the investigation will be purfued with far more fuccets by accurate inquiries into nature, than by unmeaning and idle abufe of those who have employed their abilities in fimilar refearches.

The anonymous author of the pamphlet before us divides his work into four fections. I. Of the fummer birds of paffage; II. Of the winter birds of paffage; III. On the irregular emigrants; IV. Reflections on the fubject. The greater part of the first fection is taken up with the emigration of the swallow tribe; in this, the opinion of Pennant, White, and many others of our beft naturalifts, that the later hatches pafs the winter in a torpid ftate," is flatly denied, and ftigmatifed with the title of a fuperftitious error;' though this author affirms at the fame time that he himself has feen Martins as late as the third of December: but what he calls his proof of the impoffibility of fwallows lying torpid during the winter is derived from his own notion that animals, which undergo a temporary torpidity, have fomething in their make different from others to enable them to remain fo long without fuftenance. Here he is evidently in an error, for the bear, marmot, and all the warm blooded quadrupeds that retire to winter-quarters, are not at all different in their internal ftructure from those which remain exposed to the feverity of winter.

Another of Mr. Pennant's opinions, concerning the partial migration of cuckoos, is controverted; though in the very next fentence the writer allows that cuckoos have been feen in the winter, which is in fact a confirmation of Mr P.'s fuppofition.

A farther proof of the inattention of this author is his placing the fork among the birds which spend the fummer in this country. The ftork was never known to vifit England; and the crane, which he tells us is found in Lincolnshire and many other parts of England, has long quitted this country.

if there were any neceffity, it would be eafy to multiply examples of the arrogance of this pfeudo-naturalift: but it would only be wafting the time of our readers, and exciting the " irafcible passion"

of

of the writer. We shall therefore conclude with quoting part of his laft paragraph: Critics will cenfure and Zoilufes condemn; but I regard neither the one or the other. Fearless of their malic: and refentment, carelefs and inattentive to their objervations, unaffected with the showers of arrows that they dart around me, I shall stand unmoved, unshaken, undaunted, and look down on them and their remarks with contempt and difdain.'-In what a happy state of improvement is the mind of fuch a writer !

THEOLOGY, &c.

Art. 61. A general and connected View of the Prophecies relating to the Times of the Gentiles, delivered by our bleffed Saviour, the Prophet Daniel, and the Apostle Paul and John: with a brief Account of their Accomplishment, fupported by the most unexceptionable Teftimony of Hiftory. By the Rev. E. W. Whitaker, Rector of St. Mildred's and All Saints, Canterbury. 12mo. pp. 283. 35. fewed. Rivingtons. 1795.

To make an antagonist refute himself is one of the most ingenious arts of controversy. This kind of ingenuity the author of the tract now before us has at least attempted to exercise with respect to Mr. Gibbon. In order to repel the indirect but artful attack made on Chriftianity by this hiftorian, in the early part of his celebrated work on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Mr. E. W. Whitaker brings forwards a series of hiftorical facts, chiefly collected from Mr. Gibbon's hiftory, and compares them with the predictions of the fcripture. He finds a wonderful analogy between the facts related by this hiftorian, and the predictions of revelation; and it is the bufinefs of this work to compare the latter with the former, in a connected feries, thus, on the teftimony of Mr. Gibbon, to establish the truth of revelation. The applications of the prophecies are in fome particulars different from thofe of Mede, Newton, and former interpreters: but the author's explanations are fupported with ingenuity; and, though we do not expect that they will produce an uniformity of opinion concerning the meaning of thefe obfcure parts of feripture, they are certainly entitled to an attentive confideration. The nature of the work precludes particular analyfis; and we must content ourselves with recommending it, in general terms, to thofe who may be difpofed to treat the prophecies of fcripture with either ridicule or neglect. Art. 62. The Chriftian's Views and Reflections during his laft Illness: with his Anticipations of the glorious Inheritance and Society of the heavenly World. To which are annexed two Sermons on particular Occafions. By the late Rev. Simon Reader. Published from the Author's Manufcript by Benjamin Cracknell, A. M. 12mo. PP. 301. 2s. 6d. Boards. Dilly. 1794

the reins,

If it be the character of religious enthufiafm to give up without controul, to paffion and fancy, we may be juftified in pronouncing this an enthufiaftic performance. The author, who appears to have placed the perfection of religion in indulging the rhapfodical flights of a heated imagination, after having put into the mouth of the dying Chriftian his last counfels, prayers, and foliloquies, conducts him into the heavenly regions, where he is welcomed by angels

and

and departed fpirits, and is prefented before God by his Saviouf By way of contraft, is next exhibited a finner configned by the Saviour to the furies, to be lashed with unremitting and endlefs tortures. To this fucceed the conference of the bleffed on redeeming love; the grand chorus of heaven; the glorified faint, accompanied by angels returning to earth to attend his own funeral, and to vifit the death-bed of others; his return to heaven, and his tour through the works of God accompanied by Abdiel and Newton. We are giddy with attending this good man in his rapid flights, and are glad to return to terra firma. Seriously, we can fee no valuable end which can be anfwered by fanciful publications of this kind; and we are of opinion that good Chriftians are much better employed in ftudying and practifing their duty in this life, than in purfuing vifionary reveries concerning the life to come.

Art. 63. Pradical Sermons on felett Paffages of Scripture. By the Rev. Thomas Rutledge, A. M. 8vo. pp. 504. Robinfons.

1794.

Thefe fermons are on the following fubjects: religion, a serious and important concern; delight in the law of God; appearance of evil to be avoided; importance and neceffity of good works; felfexamination; ftedfaftnels and perfeverance; bleffednefs of the merciful; character and end of the upright; fleeping finners called to awake; unlawful oaths; fwearing and profaning the name of God; obfervance of the Sabbath, two fermons; fuitable behaviour under afflictions; inconceivable happiness of the future ftate, &c.

In these discourses we meet with many fenfible and instructive re. marks, and perfuafive arguments to a religious and righteous conduct. They are chiefly declamatory, and fuch may, perhaps, be better adapted to the benefit of a general audience than more ftudied or more accurate compofitions; yet though the former fhould prove more acceptable in the delivery to a popular affembly, they not unfrequently fail of anfwering the expectation when they come under private perufal. This writer, though calvinistical in fentiment, introduces little that may be deemed of a difputable kind. He appears in earnest for practical religion. His manner has occafionally reminded us of fome French preachers, and in other inftances of old English divines.

Were we to point out difcourfes which appear to us to excel in this volume, we should fix on those entitled the character of the merciful; oaths and profane fwearing; obfervance of the Sabbath; behaviour under and improvement of afflictions; neceffity of good works; also, a fermon which is called, a ferious and interesting enquiry, having for a text this question, How old art thou ?-Indeed, all difcourfes are of fome value which keep conftantly in view, as a primary object, practical truth, virtue, and righteoufnefs. Our author's ftyle is plain, but lively, fometimes intermixed with images and fimiles, and a few apt quotations: in one part we fee introduced the interefting tale of Polycrates, prince of Samos: but we must object to a paffage in the funeral fermon for the Rev. John Patrick, his predeceffor. In drawing the character, valuable in other respects, and we doubt not juft, the libera

Voyage de Jeune Anacharfis en Grece, Tom. vi. p. 302.