China to the maintenance of the human race; vol. ii. p. 472. Horses are but little used either for agriculture or conveyance. The poor walk; the rich are carried by men in palanquins; and heavy goods are conveyed by canals. There are scarcely any parks and pleasure-grounds, except those which belong to the emperor. The people in general are contented with grain and roots, mixed with a small relish of animal food. Even milk, cheese, and butter, the principal resources of pastoral life, are, on account of the scarcity of domestic animals, but little used among them; see vol. ii. p. 360 and 361.To enter more at large into the causes which have produced, and which maintain, the exuberant populousness of China, would be to transcribe a great part of Sir G. Staunton's work. We must be contented with having submitted to the reader's view the principal circumstances, within a narrow compass.

Having considered how such an astonishing multitude of people are fed, the next point is to examine by what means they are governed. The government of China is singular in this, that the throne does not borrow any support from the altar; and yet that this throne is, perhaps, the most firmly established of any on earth. The main pillars of Chinese policy are the patriarchal authority, and the distribution of all honours and offices according to the old Greek maxim of giving to the best performer the best flute. In China, the existing generations of the same family usually inhabit the same house, and live under the continual direction and guidance of the surviving heads of it. The young thus radically imbibe, more strongly than in other countries, the spirit that has uniformly actuated their progenitors: they conform themselves, more exactly than elsewhere, to the sentiments and habits of the old; and they embrace, among other principles, that horror of innovation which is the frequent concomitant of declining years;-vol. ii. p. 301.

The Chinese disdain operose refinements in mechanics, and in the dependant arts; which they never strive to improve beyond the degree required by the most palpable and evident uti~ lity. With the character of being grossly ignorant in medicine, they are the healthiest people in the world; and while they are careless of chemistry as a science, many of their operations on metals and minerals surpass the skill of our most profound adepts ;-vol. ii. p. 541. Concerning other branches of what is called, by way of distinction, natural science, the Chinese Literati seem equally indifferent. The whole vigour of their minds is directed to the moral sciences of ethics and politics; the proficiency in which is not only the direct road to power and honour, but the indispensable requisite to every employment in the state;-vol. ii. pp. 298 and 484.

The

The art of printing, practised immemorially in China, powerfully co-operates with the circumstances just mentioned in upholding the stability of government. The prerogatives of the throne are strengthened and confirmed by maxims propagated from the press; and the reigning prince being a continual subject of panegyric, his advantages and honours, how great soever they may be, will scarcely appear commensurate with the transcendency of his virtues. Loyalty is early impressed by whatever is most striking to the senses. The prostrations and other ceremonies, to which the Chinese are above all nations habituated, are not merely idle forms. They contribute to inspire or heighten sentiments of veneration for the prince, and continually to keep alive the sense of duty in the subject.Notwithstanding these circumstances, however, it is asserted that there is a sect in China, whose fundamental principle is an antipathy to monarchy. The meetings of this sect are said to be held with the utmost secrecy; and persons suspected of favouring such a dangerous tenet are cut off, or hunted out, from society-but such a sect, if it really exists, is not likely to make many proselytes among a people, whose temper, character, and manners, seem peculiarly well adapted to that form of policy under which the generality of the people, if not the very poor, have so long lived and flourished. See vol. ii. pp. 375. 379.384.490.

In concluding our account of this work, justice requires us to observe that the novelty and importance of the main subject have precluded our speaking of the accessories: yet the places visited in the voyage outward and homeward are described in a manner highly interesting; and, as it should seem, with a continued attention to avoid common place, and to omit the details which had been previously given to the public by other writers. The work throughout is marked with the characteristics of veracity, modesty, and candour: the author's modesty, indeed, in avoiding to name himself, or those immediately connected with him, sometimes occasions obscurity and formality; and negligences in point of style are too frequently observable: but they seldom affect the sense; and the ill health under which the author laboured, during the arrangement of his materials, is better entitled to serve as an excuse for defects in a task undertaken in obedience to the public voice, by a person acquainted from the beginning with every particular of the expedition, than (to use Sir G.'s own words) in an author who had come forward from the suggestions of his own mind, and with a consciousness of talent and literary attainments, which might enable him to defy the severity of criticism.'

The

The first volume is embellished with seven engravings; and the second, with twenty-eight; bearing a reference chiefly to the arts, manners, and mythology of the Chinese. There is also a folio volume of plates accompanying the text, which are forty-four in number; representing, besides similar subjects with those exhibited by, the other engravings, charts of the coasts and islands of China, with tracks of the ships from England, and various views of the interior country through which the embassy was conducted. Some of these views are distinguished by magnificence; others, by beauty; and almost all of them strike by their singularity. Three of them peculiarly attracted our attention :-the tower of the thundering winds on the borders of the lake See-Hoo: the great wall of China near the pass of Cou-Pe-Koo; of which wall, the masonry and brick-work in the towers alone exceed in quantity those of all London; and thirdly, the scoop-wheel of China, for lifting water on the banks of rivers, for agricultural purposes. These wheels, which are very common in the southern provinces, are made entirely of bamboo, are put together without a nail, and are from fifteen to forty feet in diameter. A wheel thirty feet in diameter will lift, in the course of twentyfour hours, nearly seventy thousand gallons of water.

The volumes have also the recommendation of elegant typography and paper: but they want an alphabetical Index.

ART. II. The Sermons and Charges of the Right Rev. John Thomas, LL. D. late Lord Bishop of Rochester, and Dean of Westminster. Published from the original MSS. by G. A. Thomas, A. M. his Lordship's Chaplain and Executor, and Rector of Woolwich, in Kent. To which is prefixed, a Sketch of the Life and Character of the Author, by the Editor. Published for the Benefit of the Philanthropic Society. 2 Vols. 8vo. 14s. Boards. Rivingtons, &c. 1796.

THE

'HE design of thus recording, for the benefit of the public, the posthumous discourses of a late distinguished ornament of the prelacy, having originated in benevolence, we sincerely hope that it may not fail of that success which the goodness of the design, and the general excellence of the compositions, amply merit: but, be that event as it may, we think them useful and elegant models of practical divinity; and we should be unjust to the memory of their venerable author, and to the public, if we withheld our approbation of them. The obvious characteristics of the discourses are, simplicity, elegance, and perspicuity. We do not perceive any ostentatious display of rhetoric, of subtle disquisition, nor of profound theological erudition,

erudition, which seem rather to be studiously avoided, and sacrificed to the main end of preaching, utility. In their general intent and character a species of reasoning is exhibited, which is well adapted to impress intelligent minds with a high sense of religion, as the only sure ground of right conduct, and the only solid basis of present and future happiness. They em brace a considerable variety of topics, chiefly of a practical tendency, embellished with a chaste and vigorous style; the language not degenerating into meanness, though it frequently descends to familiarity, and occasionally soaring to sublimity; while a solid tenor of evangelical gravity is uniformly preserved.

That the reader may judge of our opinion of these volumes, we shall subjoin some extracts; which, however promiscuously selected, will not be liable to objection either in point of composition, or of doctrine.

The first selection that we shall make is the sermon on Religious Education; in which, with much energy and pathos, the preacher combats the opinion that children should be left to the operation of their own natural powers; and that to infuse any principles of religious or moral conduct can only serve to fill them with prejudices, and to check the natural liberty and progress of the human mind.

The absurdity of such an opinion will appear (says the good Bishop) from briefly considering the different characters and dispositions of the human race, as formed under these opposite plans. Thus, in taking a view of that part of the world, where early instruction and discipline are in use, we see whole nations civilized and polished, good order and government maintained, religion established

present

social virtues practised, science flourishing, arts encouraged, commerce extended, and every elegant refinement in taste and manners introduced and adopted. But if we turn to the descriptions given us of those remote regions, which the enterprizing spirit of the age hath discovered, and where human nature is left to itself, they exhibit the very reverse of these characters. Here, a people of a barbarous and savage cast, treacherous, vindictive, cruel. There, of a disposition more hospitable, perhaps; but dishonest, sensual, slothful. No sense of decency or modesty in the one: (scarcely) any feelings of humanity in the other; and all so grossly ignorant, so greatly fallen below what we are taught to conceive of the powers of human nature, that we arc almost ready to believe that, in those distant regions, the people, like their animals, fruits, and grain, are of a different species; and not endowed with the same rational faculties and capacities as ourselves.

scarce

• And yet, before we presume, upon such a distinction, it will become us to reflect, that our own country, humanized and polished as it now is, was, in former times, as idolatrous, uncivilized, and unenlightened, as those people who still sit in darkness! And, to

what

what are we to ascribe our deliverance from it, and our superior advantages of knowledge and the comforts of life, but to a better cultivation of the powers and faculties of the human mind? to the light that has been thrown upon it by the glorious gospel of Christ; to that unerring rule of life and manners which it prescribes; to that equitable and benevolent spirit of it, which animates the whole body of our laws, sustains the admired fabric of our constitution, strengthens our obligation to every moral and social duty;-and which the more we are taught to believe and obey it, the more plentifully will it yield the good fruits of private and public happiness.'

The following sentiments, on the duty of living peaceably,' will probably obtain universal approbation ;-and they will not be the less forcible, for having been constantly exemplified in the long and tranquil life of their author:

We must not, however, (ser. vii. p. 104,) confound this patient merit with that indolent tranquillity of mind, which may naturally dispose some men to be quiet in themselves, and inoffensive to those about them. The result of such a temper may be personal happiness; but it is not virtue. For the practice of this and every social duty, is only so far virtuous, as it proceeds from a moral intention to contribute to the ease and happiness of others; not from a natural fitness of disposition to enjoy it in our own breasts. And therefore we cannot be said to live peaceably, in the active and practical sense of the expression, except, as our religion directs us, we study to be quiet: and not only to be quiet, but to do our own business-A diligent attention to the business of our respective stations being to society, what the regular and orderly course of the heavenly bodies is to nature. We are likewise further directed to "follow after the things that make for peace; and things whereby we may edify," and excite one another to carry on the good work of religion and civil union with a view to the general benefit: so that by a reciprocation of kind offices, and by mutual concessions in points of indifferent obligation, we may secure a concurrence of opinion in those that are essential. Nay, even the lesser virtues of cheerfulness, civility, courteousness, and respectful attentions, enter all into the idea, and are of no small service towards a right discharge of this duty. They form, as it were, the outposts to the main body of society; are a check upon the petulant attacks of obstinacy or ill-humour; give time for the succours of reason to come in; and preserve the communication between the several ranks and orders of men free and open.

It is easy to conceive how many little disasters and animosities would be prevented by holding such a conduct as this, even in the ordinary intercourses of private life. Thus, when we behold the serenity and cheerfulness that appear in a well-ordered family; the complacency and delight that spring from domestic concord; and the friendly exchanges of civility that are kept up between one neighbour and another; we cannot but acknowledge, how good and joyful a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!-In these smaller subdivisions of society, we clearly perceive the nature of this duty from the effects of it. But when the circle of obligation widens, and the good

order