Containing pleafing Dialogues on Lying, Prayer, Fishing, Fowl ing, Death, Deformity, the Sagacity of the Ewes and Lambs, Detraction, the Tulip; and a Ramble through London, in a Dialogue between Mafter Jofeph and his Sifter. By G. Wright, Efq. Author of the young Moralift, Country 'Squire, &c. 12mo. 1s. 6d. Turpin. 1785. It is ever unpleasant to us to fpeak cenforiously of works which appear to arife from a good intention, and to aim at promoting innocence, truth, and virtue: fuch is the nature of the prefent publication; and the collection of which it confifts may be amusing and ufeful to children: and fo it might, had both the poetry and profe been fomewhat more elegant and accurate. Some expreffions are il literate, and false grammar, as, there is innocent amusements enow to be found,' there's things lawful that, &c.'-' down goes the peaches, &c.' Mr. Wright fays indeed, the learned critic may find many innaccuracies both in the compofition and the language;? but this is not a fufficient apology for the publication of fuch crudities. However, though we could not avoid thefe hints, we must own that the performance is not an object of criticism; yet ftill, it must be allowed, that literary compofitions intended for children and youth require fome care as to language and ftyle, as well as to doc trine and fentiment. H. Art. 67. The Paper-makers and Stationers' Affilant; being a correct Lift of all the different Papers, their Tables, Rates, and Sizes, with the new and additional Duties, and the Three Five per Cents. thereon, exactly calculated. By John Paine, Junior. 12mo. 6d, Symonds. Úfeful to manufacturers and dealers in all kinds of paper, as well as to revenue-officers, with refpect to this article of taxation. Art. 68. Bannister's Reports; or, a Series of Adjudications be fore Lord Justice Joker, in his Majefty's High Court of Wit, Humour, and Fun. 12mo. 1s. 6d. fewed. Fielding. A jeft-book, which may serve as a fupplement to Joe Miller, and the rest of 'em. Art. 69. Bowles's new London Guide; being an Index to all the Streets, Squares, Lanes, Courts, Wharfs, Keys, &c. Churches, and other Places of Worship; Villages, Hofpitals, &c. &c. in and within five Miles of the Metropolis. With the Fares of Hackney Coaches from the feveral Stands, agreeable to the Act of Parliament which took place August 1, 1786. And the Rates of Watermen, as newly regulated. 8vo. 7s. d. bound. Bowles. The Editor of this very useful work justly obferves, that from the vast extent to which our great and flourishing capital has been brought within thefe few years, the inhabitant, as well as the ftranger [often] finds himself at a lofs to ascertain in what part of the metropolis, or its neighbourhood, numbers of places are fituated with which he may occafionally have concern.' Hence he has been induced to employ proper perfons to perambulate the metropolis and its environs, to the extent of five miles, in order to collect the names, and afcertain the fituations, of the feveral new ftreets and buildings of every denomination, which have never before been laid before the Public; and alfo to correct fuch of the others as have, of late, un dergone dergone alteration. The advantages of having a ready directory to places of public note, are too confpicuous to require any comment.' We are particularly pleafed with that part of the work which Mr. Bowles wishes to be diftinguished by the title of his New HackneyCoach Directory; it is well planned, and appears to be accurately executed. The title-page affirms that upwards of 50,000 fares are here comprehended. On the whole, this feems to be the beft compilement of the kind that hath yet appeared Art. 70. Memoirs of a French Officer, who escaped from Slavery. 8vo. 25. Oxford, at the Clarendon Prefs. Sold by Rivingtons in London. 1786. If the name of this narrator had been affixed to his work, we might, perhaps, have been able to have formed a proper judgment with reSpect to the degree of credit due to his ftory; but, anonymous as thefe memoirs are, we cannot be fure that we ought not to have claffed them with the common novels of the day. If, however, the ftory be real, the writer, whoever he is, and the companions of his unfortunate voyage, are entitled to our utmoft pity and commiferation, on account of the cruel treatment they received at the hands of the barbarians on whofe inhofpitable fhore they were fhipwrecked. The Author tells us that he was appointed by his fovereign, the King of France, to a command in the colony at Senegal; that in December 1783, he embarked on board the Two Friends, Captain Carfin; and that on the 17th of January following, the veffel was caft away in a form on the coaft of Barbary, where fome of the crew were feized as they fwam to fhore, and moft inhumanly murdered by the natives; while those whofe lives were fpared were enflaved. The miferies endured by our Author, while among these favages, almost exceed belief; for the hardships inflicted on him by his merciless mafters, feem to have been fuch as human ftrength, one would imagine, could not poffibly fupport. At length, by a proper applicacation of the European confuls to the Emperor of Morocco, the furviving fufferers were fet at liberty. The manner, however, in which they happily obtained their deliverance does not well comport with the language of our Author's title-page; in which we are told that he escaped from flavery. THEOLOGY, &c. Art. 71. A fhort Efay on Baptifm; intended to elucidate the G 4 fant 88 MONTHLY CATALOGUE, Theology. fant-Baptifm, a practice which this Writer rejects. Yet the argument is not wholly without its weight. H. Art. 72. The book of the Revelation of St. John the Divine ex- The general defign of the Revelation is to give, in a series of prophetic vifions, an history of the future fortunes of the Chriftian church. Now, as feventeen hundred years are past fince this prophecy first appeared, it is natural, as our Author obferves, to fuppofe, that fome of the events here foretold have already happened; others may ftill be future; and fome may be of that nature as to be fulfilling by a fucceffion of fimilar events for feveral ages together, and may be exifting at this prefent time. In confequence of this fuppofition, the book divides itself into three parts: the firft foretelling events that are now past; the fe cond, those that are now exifting; the third, thofe that are fill to come. Mr. Vivian confiders thefe divifions under diftin&t claffes: and illuftrates the feveral fubjects of which they treat, in an eafy and concise manner, fometimes appealing to hiftory, and fometimes relying on conjecture. The number of the Beaft (666) in Rev. xiii. 18. hath given rife to much fpeculation, from Irenæus to the modern expofitors, on this myftical book. Moit Proteftant writers have fuppofed that it denotes the Roman Pontiff. Our Author is of another opinion, and fuppofes that the miftake arifes from confounding the first and Second Beaft, fpoken of in the fame chapter. The image of the former is delineated in the first ten verfes; the remaining part of the chapter defcribes the character of the latter. Can it be imagined,' fays Mr. Vivian, that when the whole defcription from the 1th to the 18th verfe relates to the fecond Beast, this 18th verfe fhould, without any intimation of the change of fubject, fpeak of the fir? Yet all the commentators, from Irenæus downwards, have fuppofed this to be the cafe, and have puzzled themselves to find fome word, in Hebrew or Greek, fuitable to the character of the first Beaft, in which the letters are expreffive of the number 666. The moft plausible of thefe is the Greek word (Latinos) the conjecture of Irenæus. But it may be afked, Of what man is this the name? Of the Pope? True, juft as much as it is of every man in Italy or in the Latin church. With refpect to the Hebrew word Romith (Romana), with which others have been pleafed, it is feminine, and the name of no man at all; of courfe cannot be applied to the Pope. If the application of the reft of the character to the King of France is well founded; and if this 18th verfe relates to the fecond Beaft, the number 666 muft fuit that monarch alfo for we have not the right key, unless it fuits any ward of the lock. But in what language fhall we examine this name, to fee the numerical amount of the letters contained in it ? Hebrew (I fuppofe) is out of the queftion: and indeed fo should the Greek too, for the word is no otherwife known to us than as ex 1 preffed in Latin, for many ages, in infcriptions and coins. The Greek as well as the Hebrew was unknown in the country inhabited by the Franks and the neighbouring nations till within thefe four hundred years. At the time the prophecy was written, Latin was the language moft general in the Roman empire, and when the empire was divided it became the univerfal language in the western part, which the learned in general agree is the fcene of the events foretold by the vifions in the book.' Mr. Vivian finds in Ludovicus (Lewis) the exact number of the Beat; putting down for nothing thofe letters which are not numerals, and reckoning only on those which are: e. g. Our Author obferves that this myftic number doth not denote a single perfon of the name of Ludovicus, but a fucceffion of perfons of the fame name, and acting in the fame perfon and character. From the death of Charlemagne, in the year 814, when the first Lewis began his reign, to the prefent year (1784), are 970 years; out of thefe the kings of the name of Lewis have reigned 387 years. From the beginning of the reign of Lewis VI. (when perfecu tion began in a more ferious manner) in the year 1108, to the present year, are 676 years, out of which the Lewis's have reigned 334 years. Since the acceffion of Lewis XIII. in 1610, are 174 years, in which space no king hath reigned in France of any other name. And this feems efpecially the time meant in the vifion, because it followed the bealing of the deadly wound. The space too hath been a time, not of civil wars, but mere perfecution for confcience-fake. The two firft Lewis's (Thirteenth and Fourteenth) firnamed the Just and Great, wading in the blood of their fubjects; and the other, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth, continuing in force their fanguinary edicts.' It is fomewhat remarkable that Mr. Vivian, without knowing that the fame experiment had been made on the word Ludovicus by preceding commentators, fhould have applied the vifion of the twoborned Beaft to the perfecuting monarchs of France: but none of them, however, fufpected that the 18th verfe, or any thing contained in it, is defcriptive of the fecond Beaft. For this difcovery the learned are indebted to the ingenuity and fagacity of our Author. Art. Art. 73. Remarks on the three first Chapters of the Revelation of St. John. To which are prefixed, Four Letters to the Rev. Thomas Charles, A. B. on the Number of the Beaft, and the Woinan's first and fecond Flight. By Thomas Reader. 8vo. Is. 6d. Buckland. 1785. Mr. Reader differs effentially from Mr. Vivian in the application of the myftic number 666. It is plain,' fays he, that it is the number, not of the fecond, but of the first Beat; not only because the fecond Beaft, whenever he rifes, will live wholly and only for the honour of the firft (for which reafon Irenæus calls him his armour-bearer), but because the first Beaft is vifibly intended by the word Beaft fix times (Rev. xiii. 14, 15. 17.), and it is also afferted (v. 17.) that the number of the firft Beaft will be given to his worhippers; for he is the last named, and the proper antecedent to the relative aule, his, v. 17, 18.' According to Mr. Reader's fcheme, the fecond beaft is not yet come. He feems inclined, with the learned Mede, to adopt Potter's celebrated interpretation, founded on the fquare of 25 (a number which very particularly marked the offices and diftinguishing orders, &c. of the Romish church), oppofed to the number 12, which, on the contrary, was chofen by divine wifdom, as the difcriminating number of the true church, both under the Jewish and the Chriftian difpenfation. As 12 is to 144, fo is 25 and a fraction to 666. It is remarkable,' as Mr. Reader obferves, that the two firft, and the laft of thofe numbers, are the only numbers in the Greek Teftament which the Holy Ghoft hath expreffed by numeral letters; and thofe numbers alone being fo expreffed, and that only in one place, leads us to conclude that they have fome relation to each other.' We cannot help thinking, with many who yet admire Mr. Potter's great ingenuity, that the fractions attending the root effentially injure his fcheme: nor is it in our opinion in the leaft repaired by Mr. Reader's hypothefis; but rather rendered ftill more precarious and unfatisfactory. Twenty-fix,' fays our Author, is alfo a remarkable ecclefiaftical number in England and Wales, and between 25 and 26 lies the exact root of 666. And, as to the fractions, poffibly God might intimate by them that there is an effential diforder both in the Beast's and in the Devil's kingdom.' Those who take pains to inform mankind, and to illuftrate the difficulties and obfcurities of the facred volume (in the meaning of which all are deeply interested, and in which nothing can be useless), deferve at least the thanks of the Public; and if they fhould fail of giving full fatisfaction, yet we ought to efteem them for their good intentions, and candidly overlook what we cannot heartily approve; for in fo intricate a path, where the most enlightened may err, no wonder if the dull and the ignorant lofe their way. B-h Art. 74. A Sermon on Galatians iv. 6. Preached in the Epifcopal Chapel at Hayfield, Derbyshire, on Trinity Sunday. 12mo. Longman. 1785. H. Art. 75. The Scripture Doctrine of a Trinity vindicated, according to the Principles of the illuminated Emanuel Swedenborg; to which fome Remarks are prefixed on a Sermon, with Notes, lately |