Higher powers; and, above all, to be punctual in the difcharge of their duty to God.-On the whole, we fcruple not, with the few exceptions already hinted, to recommend this as a plain, ferious, pertinent, well intended, and useful difcourfe. B......W. II. In Commemoration of the great Storm of Wind, Nov. 27, 1703, and of the more dreadful Storm which threatened the Deftruction of British Freedom, at the Eve of the Revolution: preached in Little Wild-ftreet, Nov. 27, 1788. By Samuel Stennet, D. D. 8vo. is. Buckland. 1788. The Account which the Dr. gives us of the abovementioned tempeft, its vaft extent, and the damage done by it, is hardly credible, did he not affure us, that he took it from a refpectable writer, who fuppofes it to have been one of the most tremendous ftorms recorded in history. The land, the houfes, churches, trees, and rivers, feverely felt its fury. On a moderate computation 8oco perfons (in this country) loft their lives; among whom, Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and his Lady, were crushed to death by the fall of their own houfe. In one level 15,000 fheep were drowned; and the writer before mentioned declares, that he himself reckoned 17,000 trees torn up by their roots in Kent, and, when tired with the number, he left off reckoning. In fhort, the damage, he affirms, exceeded that of the fire of London, which was estimated at four millions. The preacher proceeds: We have just felt the horrors of the dark and difmal night that preceded the 27th of November, 1703, when the winds blew, the kies blackened, the earth fhook, and the hearts of men failed them with difmay; and we have enjoyed the happy calm that fucceeded it. Let us now feel the horrors of that more dreadful tempeft, which was impending on this country in the year 1688; and let us share with our pious ancestors in the joy they felt on the ever memorable 5th of November.' When William the Third "came, faw, and conquered," tyranny turned pale, the arm of defpotifm was unnerved, bigotry fkulked into filence, perfecution fled, and the black defigns of the fons of darknefs were fruftrated.' Having defcribed, in pathetic terms, the dreadful fituation to which we were reduced by James II. and our glorious deliverance by King William, Dr. Stennet proceeds to make fuch obfervations as every Briton will readily adopt; and with which we fhall conclude our account of this fenfible discourse. Let us recollect, with heartfelt joy and gratitude, the ineftimable bleffings we have enjoyed under the mild adminiftrations of the two Princes of the house of Brunfwick, who have already reigned;-and that happy confirmation and enlargement which our religious liberties have received under the reign of his prefent Majefty. And while we tenderly feel with him and his afflicted family, in the mournful providence with which they are now vifited, let us offer our fervent and repeated prayers to God, that tranquillity may be restored to his royal bofom, that he may again affume the reins of government with diftinguished glory, and that, in the meanwhile, the deliberations of our great men, under the guidance of Heaven, may be directed to the happieft iffue.' Di 3 III. The III. The Principles of the Revolution afferted and vindicated, and its Advantages ftated, in a Sermon preached at Castle Hedingham, Effex, Nov. 5, 1788. By Robert Stevenfon. 8vo. 1 s. Dilly. Taking for his text, Pfalm lxxv. 7. Mr. Stevenfon here ftates the grievances under which our ancestors laboured, in the reign of James II. the methods, by which, under Providence, the Revolution was effected, and the advantages derived from it,-which we ftill enjoy. His enlargement under thefe feveral heads is pertinent and judicious. B......w. SINGLE SERMONS, on other Occafions. I. A Sermon preached in his Majefty's Chapel, Whitehall, at the Confecration of William Lord Bishop of Chefter, January 20, 1788. By Houftonne Radcliffe, D. D. Prebendary of Ely, &c. 4to. Is. Rivingtons, &c. The inftitution of epifcopacy is in this difcourfe vindicated, not 'merely on the ground of its high antiquity, expediency, and usefulnefs, but on that of Apoftolic authority. The reader will not expect that in a discourse of this kind, much new light should be cast on a fubject which has been fo often difcuffed: but he will find the arguments ingeniously stated; and the difcourfe is well written. E........ II. Preached at the Primary Vifitation of the Lord Bishop of Winchefter, in the Cathedral of Winchester, July 14, 1788, by the Rev. Edmund Poulter, M. A. Rector of Crawley, &c. 4to. Cadell. 6 IS. Mr. Poulter thus begins his difcourfe: If the fullest fenfe of the diftance, great between any fingle perfon in this affembly, who might have been called upon to perform this duty, and the reft, but between myself and you, infinite, give me any claim to your attention, who afpire not to your applaufe, I have that claim to fuch beneficial compromife; for I fhould confider it fill as fome degree of praise hence to have avoided cenfure here.' This is a fpecimen of the embarraffed ftyle; but, with many, the arguments which Mr. P. employs will be more objected to than his language. His difcourfe is extremely open to animadverfion. We do not call in question his fense or learning, but his fond partiality to the Liturgy has induced him to reafon very inconclufively in its favour. Attempting to prove too much, he hurts his caufe. The Liturgy is certainly excellent on the whole; but to reprefent it as poffeffing even fuperior precifion to the Scriptures, as having nothing apocryphal in it, and as fo compofed that no perfon can doubt whether any one paffage in it be framed with lefs authority than the reft, with less accuracy inferted, or with less precifion retained, is furely faying more of it than it merits. The compilers, at the Reformation, deferve great praise for what they did, confidering the prejudices and habits with which they had to contend; but we cannot fuppofe that they left the work perfect. Mr. P. may object to the flightest alteration, and confider the frequent repetition of the Lord's Prayer as a particular excellence, but we must continue to think that were the Liturgy revised, and its redundancies lopped off, it would be improved. Moo. III. The III. The Conduct and Doom of falfe Teachers. By John Dick, A. M. 8vo. 6d. Edinburgh. 1788. Not ill written, in point of ftyle; but the author appears to be either very ignorant of his fubject, or under the over-bearing influence of prejudice and party zeal. Are all perfons heretical, and falfe, who do not affent to his creed, or that of his church? Or, do not many rank among the beft of mankind, who hold principles very different from thofe of Mr. Dick? and who, we might add, understand them better? The difcourfe merits reprehenfion, because it may deceive and mislead unwary and well difpofed minds; at the fame time inflaming them with bitterness and wrath, under the idea of religious zeal. Hi...S. IV. Preached before the Governors of Addenbrooke's Hofpital, June 28, 1787, at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge. By T. Parkinfon, M. A. F.R. S. Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. 4to. 15. Cadell. This is a very good difcourfe, at once political and fcriptural; urging on the readers the exercife of humanity and charity (from Luke, x. 37.) as men, citizens, and Chriftians. The ftyle is ftudied and correct, perhaps in an inftance or two rather obfcure. It is fhort, but thofe who perufe it with attention, will probably find it (without a direct appeal to the paflions) both convincing and perfuafive The ftate of the hofpital forms the greater part of the pamphlet. HI...S. V. Preached in the Parish Church of Old Swinford, Worcestershire, 30th March, 1788. By the Rev. L. Booker. 4to. Is. 6d. Rivingtons. A farewell difcourfe, from Philip. iv. 8. in which the author particularly recommends to the parishioners, an attention to Sunday Schools, and to another inftitution which he calls Female Societies, but the prefent management of which he entirely reprobates, in a note. The Sermon is published by request, and very well adapted to the defign. HT...S. CORRESPONDENCE. +++ The letter figned Timothy Taperwit, is a piece of very slender wit indeed! Its meaning keeps pace with its pleafantry; and its politeness does not fall fhort of either.-Need we take farther notice of this knight-errant, who enters the lifts in defence of Mrs. Stewart, alias Rudd?-with whom, by the way, it is impoffible for us to have any quarrel. If he is in diftrefs, we are forry for her, not only as a woman, but as a woman of diftinguished abilities: and we heartily wish that her fufferings were at an end. Amicus Conftans will fee, by the public advertisements, that Dr. Campbell's book is just published. In answer to his inquiry Who is the author of the Hiftory of England in a Series of Letters,' &c. ? We always understood it to be the work of that egregious book-maker, the late Dr. Goldsmith; though by many (on what grounds grounds we know not) afcribed to a celebrated literary Lord.-The fame Correfpondent expreffes his doubts whether Cunningham, author of the Hiftory of England, lately publifhed by Hollingberry, (fee Review, vol. lxxviii. p. 89.) be the editor of Horace.' Many conjectures have been started on this head; but we have not been able to obtain any certain information. If any of our Readers would be kind enough to answer this inquiry, we fhall readily give our circulation to the intelligence. To the above correfpondent we are obliged for the hint of mentioning, in future, the number of pages contained in the feveral publications that come under our notice: a circumftance that, no doubt, will be useful to many of our readers, and which is become the more neceffary, from the fhameful practice of fome authors and publishers, who make no fcruple of rating fixpenny pamphlets at eighteen pence, two fhillings, or even half a crown. **We ate obliged to Major Brehm for the honour of his very fcientific letter; but the plan of our publication forbids its infertion; our particular object being the review of printed works, already before the Public.-The Major's learned fpeculations will, no doubt, be very acceptable to fome of the Magazines: in the moft refpectable of which, they would appear with propriety. ttt INQUIRY may be affured that Lord Rawdon did not fend the account of Mrs. Stewart's cafe. Nor is it in the power of ANY PER SON, of whatever rank or confequence, to influence, in any degree, an article in the Monthly Review. We have given, with impartiality, our fentiments on Mrs. S.'s publication; and what we have written is left with the Public. sts We cannot inform our Correfpondent where the Difpenfatorium Fuldenfe is to be bought. The copy used by us was tranfmitted from abroad, to a private perfon. 1 A. B.'s obliging Letter, dated from near Wakefield,' men. tions [from Lackington's Catalogue] Dr. Ellis's "Knowlegeof Divine Things from Revelation, &c. 1771." with the following note; "This work is very curious, very learned, and exceedingly entertaining and inftructive. It ran through two very large editions, without being inferted in any Review, or any way advertised."There may be fuch a work; but our plan does not extend to book's which are published, as the Irishman said, in a private manner. II The impertinent Letter, relative to Mrs. Stewart's cafe, and fo claffically figned Omnes Veritas, is unworthy of further notice. Other Letters in our next. Review for Jan. p. 63, 1. penult. dele the word agreeably.' THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For MARCH, 1789. ART. I. The Husbandry of the Ancients. By Adam Dickfon, A. M. late Minifter of Whittingham. 8vo. 2 Vols. 12s. Boards. Robinfons, &c. 1788. MR R. Dickfon is well known as the author of a refpectable treatife on agriculture, publifhed many years ago*. He was, we are told, in a fhort account of his life prefixed to this work, a man of a very lively apprehenfion, an ardent mind, and clear and found judgment. Having received a liberal education, and being peculiarly addicted to the ftudy of agriculture, he contemplated, with particular pleasure, the Latin Rei Ruftica fcriptores, appreciated their merits, and in the leifure that a rural retirement affords, compiled the prefent per formance for the benefit of his countrymen: and it must be admitted, that by. fuch helps, not only the mere English reader will have it in his power to become acquainted with the modes of husbandry and agriculture practifed in ancient Italy, but that even claffical scholars may, occafionally, participate in the advantage; for, as the editor obferves, the author's perfect knowlege of the fubject has enabled him to clear up many difficulties, which the learned commentators on the Rei Rufticæ fcriptores, being entirely ignorant of husbandry, had rendered more obfcure; while his fkill in modern agriculture enabled him to make a judicious comparifon between that and the practice of the ancients.' The author himself concludes his own Preface by obferving, that he not only expects attention to his work from the ingenious cultivators of land, and from the many focieties now eftablished through Britain for the improvement of agriculture; but he likewife hopes for the approbation of all the antiquarians of the kingdom, to whom he has opened up a mine of genuine Roman antiquities, that has hitherto been fhut, except only to a few.' In this laft particular, our opinion entirely coincides with that of the author; and though we are not fo fanguine in our expectations of the benefits which the VOL. LXXX. *See Rev. vols. xxxiii. and xli. practical |