The Author (though he nowhere acknowledges his obligations) appears to have drawn confiderably from foreign fources. The French idiom, indeed, prevails throughout his work; and in confequence of this, his diction is frequently ftiff and embarraffed. We fhall point out three or four fentences which we think particularly faulty in phrafeology and conftruction, and which are no way reconcileable to the genius of the English tongue.

P. 14. Auftria, and the ftates in Germany, with the imperial dignity, paffed to the brother of Charles, the emperor Ferdinand, who poffefied alfo Hungary and Bohemia, and whofe defcendants were deftined at laft to reap the fucceffion, though diminished, of the Low Countries.'

To reap the fucceffion' is a vile phrafe, as Polonius would fay, a very vile phrafe: and by many, perhaps, will be with difficulty understood. A Frenchman certainly writes, and elegantly, "recueillir une fucceffion"-and recueillir undoubtedly means to reap. But here the verb recueillir is not to be taken literally; "recueillir une fucceffion" is a figurative expreffion, and means to inherit an estate, or in the language of royalty to attain to dominion and power.

P. 25. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle compofed this war, which was of no long continuance, and gave to these provinces a tranquillity that has not fince been disturbed.'

Compofer la guerre" is not unfrequent with the French, and fignifies to put an end to the war; but an Englishman, we believe, would fcarcely fay compofed the war,' when he means to inform us that it is no longer carried on.

P. 100. If it can be credited, as it is fometimes afferted, that lace wrought in other countries with the fame materials with which it is wrought here, and by the hands of the fame artists, yet attains not to the fame perfection, it must be supposed that the air has an influence upon the flender frame of this delicate fabric.'

What does Mr. Shaw here mean by this delicate fabric ?' Fabric (in English, and according to its common acceptation) is a building, an edifice. Mr. S. in all probability met with "fabriques tres delicates." The French fubftantive (fabrique) however, means both edifice and manufacture. Fabriques tres delicates fhould therefore be rendered the fineness or delicate texture of this manufacture.

* A book has been published at Paris, entitled, "Memoires Hiftoriques et Politiques des Pays-Bas Autrichiens," by the Count de Neny. But whether Mr. Shaw is indebted to that gentleman for any of the sketches here exhibited is impoffible for us to determine; the Count de Neny's performance never having fallen into our hands.

P. 79. A more fortunate conjuncture may arrive, when actuated by more liberal principles of commerce, or preffed by the voice of confpiring nations to whofe access the Scheld is now denied, &c. Our author no doubt meant to fay, "Nations who are now denied access to the Scheld"-Yet after all, access to the Scheld is by no means a happy expreffion, and is fcarcely to be defended. At page 158 we meet with "a fliding age" (the French adjective we fuppofe was glisant) inftead of a corrupt and slippery age, &c.'

Very many errors of a like nature are to be found in this performance; but we have selected a fufficient number of paffages to prove the author's deviation from our eftablished mode of fpeech; a deviation we are never inclined to tolerate or excufe. The English language is already greatly injured by the introduction of Gallicifms; and in a little time, we fear, it will be totally deftroyed by them *.

Such are our objections to Mr. Shaw's publication. In other refpects his book is undoubtedly entitled to praise. It contains much useful, we may add, interefting matter, compiled with feeming induftry, and in many parts with care.

ART. III. Sacred Biography: or the Hiftory of the Patriarchs: being a Courfe of Lectures, delivered at the Scots Church, LondonWall. By Henry Hunter, D.D. Vol. III. 8vo. 6s. Murray. 1786. N this volume, the author (in continuation of his plan, which has already come under our notice, fee Rev. vol. lxxi. p. 434.) confines himself wholly to the hiftory of Mofes. The incidents of his life, and the concomitant events of the Jewish history, he unfolds, not with the coolness of criticifm, but in the animated ftyle of popular oratory: feizing every circumftance, in the course of the narrative, which can afford occafion for moral and pious reflections, lively défcription, or pathetic addrefs. Whatever philofophy may find to controvert in our author's opinions, or criticifm to cenfure in his mode of declamation, it must be acknowledged, that he poffeffes confiderable powers, both of conception and language, for that kind of preaching which is adapted to produce a ftrong impreffion upon mixed auditories. Of the ftyle of thefe difcourfes, we fhall give the following fpecimen :

Speaking of Midian in Arabia, the place to which Mofes retired, when he left Egypt, Dr. Hunter proceeds:

As to the employing of French words occafionally, and as fuch, either for the purpose of giving energy to our expreffions, or for the more clearly conveying our meaning, we think the practice may not only be juftified but commended. We repeat: it is the foreign idiom in English performances that particularly excites our difguft.

There

There lived in this city a perfon of diftinguifhed rank and ftation; but whether poffeffed of a facred or a civil character, the ambiguity of the term in the holy language permits us not to determine; and the Scripture leaves us totally uncertain whether he were a priest or a prince of Midian. But we are left in no doubt refpecting his moral and intellectual qualifications; and we fhall have no reafon to be difpleafed at finding the history of Mofes blended with that of fo fenfible and fo good a man as Jethro, or Raguel, turns out to be. Whatever his dignity was, the facerdotal or royal, we find his daughters trained up in all the fimplicity of thofe early times; following the humble, harmless profetion of fhepherdeffes. Wife is that father, kind and juft to his children, who, whatever his flation, poffeffions, or profpects may be, brings up his fons and his daughters to fome virtuous and ufeful employment; for idleness is not more odious, difhonourable, and contemptible, than it is inimical to happinefs, and irreconcileable to inward peace.

Mofes being arrived in the neighbourhood of Midian, weary and faint with a long journey, through a barren and unhofpitable country, fits down by a well of water to reft and refresh himself. And as a good man's footiteps are all ordered of the Lord, Providence fends him thither, juft at the moment, to fuccour the daughters of Raguel from the vicl nce of fome of their neighbours. In that country, the precious fluid bestowed upon us in fuch boundless profufion, being difpenfed as it were in drops, became an object of defire, and a ground of contention. The daughters of Jethro, fenfible of their inferiority in point of ftrength, endeavour to fupply it by diligence and addrefs. They arrive at the well before their rival thepherds, and are preparing with all poffible difpatch to water their hocks, when behold they are overtaken by thefe brutals, who rudely drive them and their flocks away, and cruelly attempt to convert the fruits of their labour to their own ufe. Mofes poffeffing at once fenfibility, courage, and force, takes part with the injured, and affords them effectual fupport against their oppreffors. An helpless, timid female, affaulted and infulted, is an object of peculiar concern to a brave and generous fpirit; and for this reafon, courage ard intrepidity are qualities in men, held in great and just eftimation by the Female Sex.

If the heroic behaviour of Mofes merit approbation and respect, the modeft referve of the virgin daughters of Raguel is equally amiable and praife-worthy. It does not appear that they folicited protection, but modeftly received it, they look their thanks rather than Etter them; and they deem it more fuitable to their fex and character to appear ungrateful to a generous ftranger, than to offend him by forwardnets and indelicacy. They haften home to their father, who, furprized at the earlinefs of their return, enquires into the caufe of it. Happy, I doubt not, to celebrate the praifes of a man whofe appearance and behaviour must have made a deep impreffion upon them, they relate the adventure of the morning, and Raguel, itruck with the magnanimity, gallantry, and fpirit of this ftranger's conduct, eagerly enquires after him, fends to find him out, invites him to his houfe and table, and endeavours to exprefs that gratitude which the young women could not, by every effort of kindness

kindness and hofpitality. Minds fo well afforted as those of Mofes and Jethro; and attracted to each other by mutual acts of beneficence, would eafily affimilate, and unite in friendship. And the pleafing recollection of protection given and received, the natural fenfibility of a female mind to perfonal accomplishments, but more efpecially to generofity and courage, on the one hand; and the irrefiftible charm of feminine beauty and modefty to a manly heart, on the other, would fpeedily and infenfibly between Mofes, and fome one of the Priest of Midian's fair daughters, ripen into love. What follows therefore, is all in the courfe of honeft Nature, which never fwerves from her purpofe, never fails to accomplish her end. But it was Providence that furnished the field, and the inftruments with which Nature should work. That Providence which faved him forty years before, from perishing in the Nile; that Providence which delivered him fo lately from the hands of an incenfed king; the fame Providence now, by a concourse of circumftances equally beyond the reach of human power or forefight, fixes the bounds of his habitation, forms for him the most important connection of human life; and for another space of forty years, makes him forget the tumultuous pleafures of a court, in the more calm and rational delights of difinterested friendship and virtuous affection.'

On theological fubjects Dr. Hunter adopts the orthodox fyftem and language; but he never fuffers himself to fink down into the dull polemic. If it be not his talent to reafon clofely, we find him, on every topic, haranguing fluently, and with no common share of popular eloquence.

ART. IV. The Epiftles of Lucius Annæus Seneca; with large Annota tions, wherein, particularly, the Tenets of the ancient Philofophers are contrafted with the divine Precepts of the Gofpel, with regard to the moral Duties of Mankind. In Two Volumes. By Thomas Morell, D. D. 4to. l. 10s. Boards. Robinfons. 1786. IN the prefent ftate of fcience, we perhaps pay too much

ceptors. The fubject of Ethics, particularly, after all the light which has been caft upon it by the New Teftament, and all the labour which has of late been bestowed upon it by divines and moralifts, may be allowed to be better understood, and more accurately taught, by the moderns than by the ancients. Neither Plato, nor Ariftotle, nor Cicero, nor Epictetus, nor Antoninus, nor Seneca, will inftruct a young man in the theory of morals, or enable him to understand it, as a fcience, fo perfectly as a Puffendorf, a Hutchefon, a Smith, or a Paley.

Nevertheless, the ancient moralifts are ftill of great value; and their value is of a kind which will not diminish with the advancement of moral fcience, fince it chiefly confifts in a lively and beautiful difplay of thofe moral maxims and fentiments, which are felt by every one, and acknowledged in every fyftem.

The

The perufal of the leffons of practical wifdom, preferved in the writings of the ancients, muft always give pleasure to a well cultivated mind, both on account of their correfpondence with the natural dictates of the human heart, and on account of the elegant and nervous manner in which they are commonly expreffed.

In this view, the writings of Seneca have been always juftly held in high eftimation. Whatever may be thought of the confiftency of this philofopher's conduct with his doctrine, it cannot be doubted, that his fyftem of philofophy required the ftricteft virtue, and that in all his writings, a variety of just and noble fentiments are expreffed with great concilenefs and energy. Even the pointed and antithetical form of expreffion, which is the peculiar character of his ftyle, and which is, not without reafon, cenfured as a deviation from the fimplicity which distinguished the writers of the preceding period, feems peculiarly adapted to the purpose of giving vivacity and strength to particular maxims and obfervations in morals.

Dr. Morell, therefore, rendered an acceptable fervice to the Public, by clothing the best part of Seneca's works, his Epiftles, in a modern drefs, which has, we believe, never been attempted fince they were done into English by Thomas Lodge, and arrayed in a rustic habit by that great mafter of the vulgar dialect, L'Etrange. Every one knows that Dr. Morell, the improver of Ainsworth Dictionary, and author of Thefaurus Græca Poefews, devoted a long life to claffical learning, and therefore, as might be expected, must have been well qualified to give a correct and faithful tranflation of Seneca. That our Readers may judge for themselves how far he was capable of imitating the peculiar manner of the original, we fhall felect two paffages.

•Of Books. The Mind is to be employed on Things and not on Words. The happy Man.

You complain, Lucilius, that, where you at prefent refide you want books: it matters not how many you have, but how good they are. Reading, with fome point in view, profits a man; but variety only amufeth. He that hath fixed upon the end of his journey, must purfue one path, and not wander out of his way: this would not be called a journey, but rambling. You had rather, you fay, I should give you books than counfel. Such as I have I am ready to fend you, and even my whole ftock: nay, I would, if poffible, transport myfelf to you; and indeed did I not expect that you foon will have fulfilled your commiffion, old as I am, I fhould have undertaken the voyage nor would Charybdis, Scylla, or any fabulous ftories relating to this fea, have deterred me from it. I would have swam over it, inftead of being carried; to have enjoyed your prefence, and learned what progrefs you have made in the accomplishments of the mind. But as for your defiring me to fend you my books, I think myfelf not a whit the more ingenious, than I fhould think myself

handfome,