tion of St. Matthew's and St. Luke's hiftories: a third decries the entire narrative of St. Mark: a fourth, with bolder hand and keener knife, cuts off three whole gofpels and eleven epistles at once and all of them, befide difcarding what they choose to denominate minor interpolations, fubdue or foften refractory claufes in the fragments, which they ftill fuffer to remain-left they should have no gospel at, all!-by the difcovery of imagin. ary orientalisms, or the application of crooked canons of criticifm; refine away paffages, which have commanded the veneration, determined the belief, fanctified the practice, and enfured the happiness of the learned pious of eighteen centuries; detect Plato lurking under the garb of St. John; convict a comma of the heinous crime of patronifing orthodoxy; and, finally, attenu. ate the Author and Finisher of our faith into little more than the fhadow of a mighty name.' P. 9. Thefe and other parts of the difcourfe are illuftrated by learned notes. The author's abftract of the horrible doctrines of Calvin (as we cannot but call them) on the subject of election and reprobation, is ftriking and powerful in the greatest degree. (See p. 12, &c.) If the fermon was all pronounced it must have occupied a confiderable time. In the closet it will not be found too long. ART. 33. 1810. We will not infift that this tract is very properly placed under the title of Divinity; fince it contains neither enquiry nor difcuffion on any theological fubject, but, in fact, a fevere and bitter irony against the church which it pretends to fupport. The author affects to prove the fuperiority of the Romish Church by its own plea of miraculous powers, but felects for the purpose, fome of the most ridiculous legends by which its traditions are dif. graced; he strikes at the old complaints of pardons and indul gencies; and makes a purpofely fhallow defence of perfecution, under the name of difcipline. That his topics of cenfure are generally juft, we hold with the most entire confidence; but that his irony is fomewhat too open, and betrays itself too often by a coarseness of expreffion, we are obliged, as critics, to confess. ART. 34. A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Saint Werberg, in Derby, on Sunday, December 16, 1810; in Confequence of the Death of the Reverend Jonathan Stubbs, M. A. By the Rev. Thomas Giborne, M. A. Published by Defire. 8vo. 28 PP. 1811. Is. 6d. Cadell and Davies. We obferved lately that funeral eulogies are not very common in the church, (Jan. p. 83) we have here however a remarkable inftance of fuch a tribute, paid by a man of high eminence to a friend, who feems truly to have deferved the distinction. Mr. Stubbs appears to have devoted himself to the duties of his profeffion with a zeal not to be exceeded. At the fame time, Mr. Gisborne, who knew him well, affures his hearers that there was nothing extravagant or intemperate in his zeal. While he had a cordial refpect and regard for all, of whatever denomination, who love the Lord Jefus Chrift in fincerity, he was firmly attached to the Eftablishment, of which he was a minifter; and actively warned his congregation, not only in private, but from the pulpit, against those errors, into which he faw reason to fear they might be drawn by perfons of a different perfuafion. His fober-mindednefs was fo fteady and fo ftriking, that it must be no common ignorance which could have imputed to him extravagance or indif cretion." P. 19. That fuch a parish-priest should be cut off at the early age of thirty-feven, by an accident which occafioned a compound fracture of his leg, was a ferious calamity to the parishes which he attended, and as it fhould feem to the cause of religion: but the difcourfe of Mr. G. is very fitly and pioufly employed to infpire refignation, and to convince his auditors that "the ways of God are not as our ways,' nor his difpenfations to be measured by the imperfect fcale of our feelings or opinions. He can at pleasure raife up labourers in his vineyard; and the exemplary life and` death of one, thus made known to the world, may perhaps more extensively operate than the perfonal labours of feveral. ART. 35. The National Jubilee, celebrative of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Reign of George the Third, politically and morally improved. By a By a Magiftrate. 8vo. 74 PP. 2s. 6d. Mathews and Leigh. 1809. The work before us, though faid to be written by " a Magiftrate" (who indeed might alfo be a Clergyman), is in the form, of a fermon, having for its text, "Render therefore unto Cæfar the things which are Cæfar's, and unto God the things which are God's ;" and also ftating, that thofe to whom it was ad... dreffed were then "affembled in the Temple of God.” To the fentiments expreffed in it we have (* generally speaking) no ob jection. They breathe refpectful affection to the King and fervent piety towards God. Thefe, however, are not digested We fay generally, because we have here and there obferved fome expreffions not wholly free from objection; more particu larly in what the author calls an Apology," prefixed to the difcourfe; in which he indecorously compares, what he terms the public fpirit of our Saviour with the public fpirit of ancient patriots, &c. though he certainly prefers the former, metho methodically, or brought to bear upon any particular point. The author deferves certainly every praife for patriotic fentiments and good intentions; but the declamatory ftyle of his work and the want of any arrangement of his matter, will, we apprehend, deter moft readers (Reviewers excepted) from a continued perufal of it. ART. 36. The Origin of Naval Architecture: A Difcourfe accommodated to the General Faft. By Philopharos. 8vo. 52 PP. 1s. 6d. Mathews and Leigh. 1808. Though this fermon has been fo long overlooked, there are fome things in it too good to be entirely laid afide. The origin of Naval Architecture, of courfe was the ark, and the author compares the fituation of the world before the flood, with that of the prefent race of men. Chrift, he fays, is the ark of Chriftians; and from this comparifon he deduces eight leffons of great importance. He concludes with the picture of a "Chriftian gentleman," and a "Chriftian minifter," both well worthy of confideration. Though fome of the allegorical allufions may feem a little in the fectarian tafte, there is nothing in the difcourfe which indicates any but the genuine fpirit of Christianity; and the preacher thus defcribed might be a bishop, and indeed refembles fome that we have known in that ftation. "His gefture in the pulpit is neither affected nor theatrical, much lefs buffoonifh and ludicrous; but fuch as becomes the Majefty of God, the facrednefs of the place, and the dignity of his office: neither is his language and ftyle that of tinfel rhetoric, or empty bombaft, but plain, fimple, and powerful. His attachment to the oracles of God has no limits; though he pays all due regard to the books and helps of a fecondary clafs, which may tend to enrich his mind with every ufeful fcience." P. 50. We transcribe this, at the period when another fast has taken place, and we do it with the conviction, that the fermon before us, though anonymous, and in fome refpects fingular, is fit for any General Faft. ART. 37. MISCELLANIES. Mavor abbreviated, being an entirely new and complete Book of Short-hand. By I. H. Clive. 12mo. 78 pp. with Plates. 7s. 6d. Crosby and Co. The art of fhort-hand is fo convenient to the ftudent, and is attended with so many advantages to perfons in different profeffions, that whatever may contribute to its improvement, to facilitate the attainment of it, and to make it more generally known, certainly claims commendation and encouragement. The prefent treatise is evidently the production of one who has ftudied X 4 ftudied the fubject, who feems well acquainted with what has already been done, and who, in general, has formed a correct opinion of what is yet wanting to the perfection of the art. Whether the method here propofed, in the fame fimple charac ter representing different letters, according to its fituation above or below a real or an imaginary line, be an improvement, may indeed be questioned: but the want of characters for vowels, which occafionally may be connected; and expreffing the vowels by dots or commas only, as in Mavor's, Byrom's, and many other systems, we cannot approve. Vowels in the middle of words fcarcely ever need be written; but at the beginning and end of words they are often neceffary; and efpecially in fome monofyllables; and hence to exprefs a fingle word, or even a monofyllable, the pen must not unfrequently be lifted, and again put upon the paper, We have not room to fay much on the fubject, but we shall take this opportunity of cautioning thofe, who attempt im. provements in fhort hand, against an error, into which the authors of most of the fyftems now extant have fallen. We must remind them, that it is not what appears moft fhort and fimple to the eye; but what the hand can molt quickly execute, that fhould be preferred. They will recollect, that as much time is occupied by the pen moving the fame space when off as when on the paper; and that whenever the pen is taken off, though but to make a dot, per. haps more time is spent in lifting it, carrying it over a certain fpace, and putting it on again, than would fuffice to write words of two or three fyllables. Could we draw a figure, reprefenting the motion of the pen, in its afcent, and defcent, and the space which it has traverfed from and to the line in making a dot or comma, it would appear, that however short and fimple the dot or comma feem to the eye, that the pen had in reality described a complicate character. To keep the writing lineal, compact, and connected, to avoid, as much poffible, taking the pen from the paper, fhould therefore be the ftudy of every fhort-hand writer. ART. 38. Geography Epitomized; or, a Companion to the Atlas, comprizing a Series of Lessons proper for the firft Course of Geographical Inftructions in Schools, with copious Examinations correfponding to the Leffons fo arranged, as to form at the fame Time. a Series of amusing Geographical Games, also an Appendix, çontaining fome eafy Inftructions and Problems relative to the prac tical Ufe of Maps. By the Rev. R. Bullock. Bolton. 4to, Mawman. 6s. 1810. Notwithstanding its great importance as a branch of science, Geography has not, till of late years, received the facilities for the purposes of inftructing youth, which were obviously neceffary. The Gazetteers of Salmon, Brookes, and others, were, it is true, eminently eminently convenient and ufeful, but not altogether adapted for very young ftudents. This objection has, however, been removed by various publications on the fubject, more fimpie, easy, and perspicuous. This work, by Mr. Bullock, feems remarkably well adapted for the purpofe, and what he calls Geographical Examinations, which are fubjoined at the end of his book, will be found equally convenient and agreeable to the teacher and the pupil. The contents are, in other refpects, well arranged, and the book is printed with the greatest neatness and perfpicuity. ART. 39. Domeftic Management; or, the healthful Cookery Book. To which is prefixed, a Treatise on Diet, as the fureft Means to preferve Health, long Life, &c.. with many valuable Obfervations on the nutritious and beneficial, as well as the injurious Effects of various Kinds of Food; alfo Remarks on the wholefome and pernicious Modes of Cookery. Intended as an Antidote to modern Errors therein. To which is added, the Method of treating Juch trifling Medical Cafes as properly come within the Sphere of Domestic Management. By a Lady. 12mo. 400 pp. 55. Crosby and Co. 1819. We may congratulate our countrymen on the increafing popularity of the important fcience of cookery, clearly evinced by the multiplication of elementary works upon the fubject. It is fatisfactory alfo to fee, that the alliance formed between cookery and medicine, by Dr. Hunter, of York, in his Culina, is maintained in all its vigour by his induftrious followers. We have even had it hinted to us, that the author of this volume (Mrs. Arabella Plumtre) has been favoured with the affiftance of an eminent phyfician, in the remarks on food, diet, &c. Of fuch works, how fhall we judge? The proof even of a common pudding is known to confift in the eating, and if we were to eat through even half a volume of this kind, our obfer. vations might come too late to benefit the author, or enlighten the public: especially, as from the plan above-mentioned, we muft wait to obferve the medical effects of the viands recommended, as well as their immediate operation on the palate. Among fo great a number of receipts there muft, doubtless, be many excellent; and fome we contemplate with peculiar respect, being marked as used in the Royal kitchen of Queen Anne. Our mouths water while we write on such subjects! ART. 40. Memoirs of Prince Eugene, of Savoy. Written by him felf. Tranflated from the French, by William Mudford: and containing all thofe Omissions which have been detected in the recent Parifian Editions. Embellished with a correct Likeness. 8vo. 7s. 6d. Sherwood. 1811. There feems to be very little doubt to be entertained of the authen. |