Artaz: comprising the Occurrences of Four Years and Five Days, in an Overland Journey to India. Faithfully abstracted from Captain Campbell's "Letters to his Son." 3s. 6d. Boards. Vernor and Hood. 1796. 12mo. pp. 276. It does not appear that this abridgment of Captain Campbell's letters, of which we gave an account, vol. xviii. p. 186. of our New Series, is made with the privity or consent of the author; and if this be the case, this compiler may be considered as skimming the cream off another's milk-pan without leave. How far this is right it is needless to inquire: but we must literally add that he has skimmed with judgment, and has given to the reader, at a low price, a very interesting narrative. Art. 59. The Investigator, or Universal Criterion of Knowledge; explaining the mysterious Phænomena of Nature, from the Com mencement to the Conclusion of Time. This original, philosophical, and astronomical Analysis will enable every Person, through the Testimony of the sensitive Mind, to understand by visible Objects the Reality of invisible Existence; being a System of Ethics, containing a comprehensive Explanation of the Creation, Structure, Substance, Growth, Progeny, and Decay of animate Bodies and inanimate Substances, and the Origin of Distempers; with requisite Instructions for the Preservation of Health; illustrated by Anatomical Observations. These several Topics of Importance are incontrovertibly proved by a rational Discussion. Signed, in the Author's Hand Writing,) Edward Dunn, Number I. 8vo. pp. 36. Price 18. To be continued Monthly. Bennison, Gray's Inn Passage. 1797. The author of this wonderful performance is, doubtless, a most profound philosopher; at least it becomes us to think him so; for we must confess ourselves wholly incapable of fathoming the depth of his Investigations. Nothing, from the beginning to the end of this first number, have we been able to comprehend; we therefore despair of gaining more light from the second, and entreat the reader's indulgence to refer the farther examination of this grand production to those Amateurs of that most sublime of all sciences, philosophy,' to whom the work is addressed. Art. 60. Truth for the Seekers; or, a fair and full Statement of the Facts which gave rise to the Imprisonment of the Quakers now in York Castle. 8vo. 6d. Jordan, &c. Those who have been informed of the reflections which have been cast on the character and conduct of the Rev. Geo. Markham *, og account of the imprisonment of certain persons (denominated Quakers) in York-Castle, for the non-payment of tithes, will do well to peruse this his defence of himself, and of his parochial claims. The pamphlet seems to contain, as the title professes, a fair statement of the case, and it is drawn up with ability. We must not omit to apprise our readers that Mr. Markham strongly disclaims all narrow attachments to the doctrine" of tithes ; * Vicar of Carleton in Craven. and and that he wishes for some more eligible mode of providing for the maintenance of the clergy. Tithes he considers as only serving to degrade their character; to produce dissent and opposition to our religious institutions; and to create and keep alive perpetual animo sities between parties whose duty it is to live together in habits of mutual beneficence and affection.' Art. 61. Thoughts on different Subjects, chiefly Moral and Political. By R. M. C. Part the First. Svo. pp. 87. Is. 6d. Robin sons. 1797. These essays include the author's sentiments on the spirit of party— on the dangers which have lately been supposed to threaten religion and on war. The spirit of inquiry, informed by good sense and directed by candour, pervades these pages, and entitles them to more than the limited approbation of his townsmen and townswomen;' though he observes, with diffidence, that his little pamphlet does not contain full and systematical treatises on the different subjects proposed. Of his success in disquisition, and of his argumentative powers, we select the following example: • One essential requisite towards impartiality is that faculty of the imagination by which a man places himself in any rank of life, in the midst of any nation, any circumstances, or any age; and fairly and equitably appreciates the miseries that each may be supposed to feel, and the advantages that each may enjoy. Such a man always estimates, as much as possible, cæteris paribus, according to the intrinsic nature of the thing, not according to the party, the rank, the nation, or the age it is connected with. He thinks that the welfare and happiness of the Majority (without respect to rank or title) is to be the ultimate aim of all our actions; that as the welfare of the prince and of the peasant are of equal importance in the eyes of the Creator of both, they ought to be equally so in the eyes of men. Hence he estimates all actions by an arithmetical calculation of the quantity of happiness or misery which they produce; and he considers that law. or that constitution as indefensible, which, without any advantage to the community, sacrifices the welfare and happiness of two peasants to the unreasonable gratification of any one man, however high his rank may be. Such a man holds the crimes of his own rank, of his own party, or of his own nation, in equal detestation with those of his enemies. He is not more moved by a horrid transaction in the present year, than by a similar one a thousand years ago; at least he does not allow it more weight in a cool comparison of the atrocity of both; nor does he allow it to influence any consequent judgment, opinion, or action. This faculty of placing ourselves, by an effort of the imagination, in the situation of others; or of, as it were, bringing the case home to our own doors, is, I think, capable of being acquired and strengthened by habit.-And of what importance such a habit must be, will easily appear when we reflect, that it is the foundation of putting into practice that great and extensive precept of "Doing to others, as we would wish them to do to us." Talk to an Englishman of the late interference in the government of Poland, and the conse quent partition of that country; and if he is a man of prejudice and party, party, he will hear you with great coolness and indifference. But if you ask him what would be his feelings if any foreign power, without provocation, were to invade England; to cover with carnage and devastation a country so long accustomed to peace and tranquillity, and to convert it into a scene of confusion and horror; to destroy its constitution, and substitute a foreign or an arbitrary government; to garrison its seaports, its castles, and its towns, with foreign troops; to drive off thousands of its families, like herds of cattle, in order to people a distant country; ask him this question I say, and he would instantly be filled with horror and indignation; he would burst out into execrations against any power that should attempt such a thing. And yet the Poles are men as well as the Eng lish. A man whose mind is under the influence of prejudice, reads with little or no emotion" the annals of blood*" We might indeed pardon him for making great allowances for the ignorance of more barbarous ages; but he reads with equal coolness, the history of the most enlightened parts of the continent of Europe, during the last two or three centuries. He there sees them, year after year, engaged in endless quarrels; their princes, emperors, and electors always envying and encroaching on each other; ready at any time to send thousands of their own subjects to the slaughter-house, to spread ruin and devastation over whole provinces, and to reduce the innocent and peaceable peasants to want and misery; and all this merely in the hope that they may perhaps filla single page in history, or that they may add a few acres to their territory. All this a prejudiced man, who does not give himself a habit of judging according to the real nature of things, reads with perfect indifference; he sees no impropriety in it; he believes that it is just as it ought to be; he believes that murder is no murder, because it is commanded by a person bearing the title of a prince or an emperor, and that crimes are no crimes, provided they are committed under the auspices of a regular government. But if a set of low born demagogues quarrel among themselves, and butcher some thousands, and confiscate property according as one faction or the other happens to prevail, an outcry is immediately raised. How dare they, who have no diploma to commit crimes, presume to do such things! But will the widow be better provided for, because her husband has been put to death by a general, than if an executioner had performed that office; will orphans be less destitute because their father was slaughtered in the field, than if he had suffered on the scaffold; will the innocent peasant's habitation be sooner built up again, his cattle sooner restored, or his ruined fields sooner recovered, because they were destroyed by a regular army, than if they had been confiscated by an iniquitous judgment, or an arbitrary command?' In examining the reality of those dangers by which religion has been or may be supposed to be threatened, the question turns on the It is said that Dr. Johnson, on being asked why he did not oftener read history, answered, "I do not love to read the annals of blood." following following points; first, whether the subversion of our religion were a probable event? and secondly, whether war were the best or the only means of preventing this evil? The author concludes that the great basis of the religion of Christ is historical evidence, which is not to be overset by strength of argument; and that nothing can be more detrimental to the cause of religion than to express doubts of its stability. Truth,' he observes, neither shrinks from discussion nor fears trials, and it equally scorns to be sheltered and protected by power. That which is sound will always support itself; it is only the rotten tree that dreads the tempest, or requires the prop.' P. 44. The emissaries lately employed by the French for the subversion of our religion, if any have really been employed, are considered as totally incompetent to the task assigned to them;-had they been numerous, they would soon have been detected; had free liberty been given to them to use their utmost efforts, whenever the interference of the law became necessary, they might have been suppressed with ease; and no danger was to be apprehended from French hirelings, ignorant in theology, in church history, and in religious argumentation, when such men as Hume and Voltaire, aided by the powers both of reasoning and wit, could not prevail. The author's opinions on the lawfulness of war savour much of the peaceful sect to which he may possibly belong; and of its inexpediency, he cites, in example, the unsuccessful attempt of several European powers to frustrate the league formed by the house of Bourbon, when seated on the thrones of France and Spain. In the conclusion, he execrates the financial inventions of modern nations, who unjustly transfer the weight of expences incurred by war to future beings, who have neither the power of dissent nor of resistance. Art. 62. Remarks on Boswell's Life of Johnson; including the real at Dublin. 1797. Besides some very pertinent and amusing strictures on Johnson, and his satellite Boswell, we have here some anecdotes and original papers relative to the late Mr. Sheridan, author of the English Dic tionary, and father to the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq. M. P., which will be useful to biographical writers; who will, no doubt, think the life of Mr. Thomas Sheridan worthy of a place in their collections. He was known to us as an ingenious man, and we have, in the pages before us, Dr. Johnson's testimony that he was a good man. Yet Johnson, as it appears from these remarks, was not partial to Mr. Sheridan, though Sheridan was the friend of Johnson; and a very active and serviceable friend too. Art. 63. Scelta di Prose e Poesie Italiane, &c. i. e. Select Specimens of Italian Prose and Verse, for the Use of young Students of that Language. By F. Damiani. 8vo. pp. 255. 3s. 6d. Johnson. 1796. This compilation is designed to exhibit a series of extracts from the the best Italian writers, in prose and in verse, arranged so as to offer a gradual ascent from the simplest to the most obscure passages. The editor considers the sixteenth century as the period at which that language was written with the greatest elegance; and his specimens are for the most part extracted from the celebrated writers who then flourished in Italy. The uncouth and incorrect style of their predecessors, he thinks, is little adapted to furnish proper models for strangers; while the moderns, though they have acquired a greater degree of precision, have lost much of the elegance which distinguishes the compositions of that classical epoch. We will not detain our readers with an examination of the justice of Mr. Damiani's opinions: but, as he has not suffered them to exclude from his work the writings of Petrarca and Dante on the one hand, nor those of Metastasio on the other, it might be imagined that Boccacio and Maffei might have furnished extracts, not less elegant nor less interesting than some which have found a place in it.. Art. 64. The Ludlow Guide, comprising an Account of the antient and present State of that Town, and its Neighbourhood; with every necessary Information for the Stranger and Traveller. 12mo. Is. Longman. 1797. An entertaining account of a very pretty town, and its pleasant vicinity. Of the author's agreeable manner of writing, we give the following short specimen : The town of Ludlow, a place of great fame and antiquity, is situate on an eminence in the midst of a fine fertile country. Towards the north, the river Corve winds down a pleasant valley, and uniting itself with the Teme, surrounds the west and south sides of the town. The latter is fettered with numerous dams across it, in nature of cataracts, by which means a number of mills are turned, and the superfluous water pouring over them, cascade like, adds a very considerable and pleasing variety to the general scenery contiguous to the town.' Ludlow certainly merits the praises which the author (Mr. Price) has with so much liberality bestowed on it. Art. 65. Taplin's Multum in Parva, or Sportsman's Equestrian Monitor. 12mo. 25. Wheble, Kearsley, &c. 1796. Brief directions, under the heads of Horse-dealing, Grooms and Coachmen, Smiths and Farriers, and the Medical Remembrancer, with a list of Taplin's Horse Medicines, compose this little but useful work. Art. 66. The Quiz, by a Society of Gentlemen. Vol. I. 12mo. pp. 280. 38. Boards. Parsons. 1797. This collection of Essays betrays haste and carelessness in their authors. The diction is not elegant, and the composition is for the most part incorrect and spiritless. We perused several of the papers with the hope of finding something to select and to commend, but our search was unsuccessful. Amid many" pages of inanity," however, we met with a French poem; from which the author of the essay accuses Goldsmith of taking without acknowlegement the pretty ballad of Edwin and Angelina, beginning thus REV. SEPT. 1797. |