bition," observes the Historian Sulpicius Severus, "was favourable to Christianity, because almost all those who then believed in Christ as God, observed the law" they renounced that servitude, they abandoned those rites which were no longer binding on their consciences; and it is a fair inference that they were thus induced to profess themselves Christians, without any mixture of Judaism, by the hope of participating in the advantages of Adrian's new colony. Orosius relates that the Christians only, and not the Jews, were allowed to enter Jerusalem :" and Eusebius +, "that a Church existed there, of the Gentiles, and the name of the first Bishop after those of the Circumcision was Marcus." A passage in Epiphanius, in which mention is made of the return of the Hebrew Christians from Pella to Jerusalem after its destruction," (and which Dr. Priestley at first charged his Antagonist with having forged for the purpose,) connects together this chain of proofs of the existence of an Orthedox Church at Ælia, composed in great part of Jews. This circumstantial evidence was illustrated by the patient and sagacious Mosheim; and, though to the strong mind of Mr. Belsham it be matter of mirth and scorn, satisfied Dr. Horsley and Mr. Gibbon, who at least was in this instance "an unbiassed inquirer after truth." The assertion that "truth must be an object of aversion and abhorrence to the Clergy," is worthy of the writer who has adjudged the palm of victory in polemical divinity to Dr. Priestley. It is necessary to be cautious in questioning Mr. Belsham's scrupulousness in making assertions: but I may be permitted to remind him that vanity is as abundant a source of innovations as the love of truth; and that it is a blind passion, more selfish, and more prejudicial to society, than even that disgraceful professional bias, by which all the Clerical defenders of the Trinity without exception are diverted from the path of equity. I may observe that we have a satisfaction which in the present instance he cannot en * Lib. 2. s. 45. + Oros. Hist, lib. 7. e. 13. § Epiphan, de Pond. et Mens. s. 15. Ch. 15, of the Decline and Fall, note 18. joy, in the consciousness of upholding a great moral truth, the practical duty of supporting the antient faith and established institutions of our country; a duty which is essential to the character of a wise and good man, qui consulta patrum, qui leges juraque servat," and so sacred, that no one can discharge himself from its obligations, except upon the strong conviction of his conscience, formed upon the clearest evidence, and the most grave and solemn consideration. CaTumny and abuse on the part of our adversaries betray a sense of the weakness of their cause. Your Readers will, I am sure, conclude that nothing can make our profession a shame to us, except the neglect of its honourable duties and sacred engagements. On the other hand, I leave it to them to determine whether a person who deliberately affirmed the two propositions alluded to (both which he has since been obliged to qualify) is likely, on this subject, to be an impartial, an able, a calm inquirer after truth. The following observations are addressed to those, if such there should be, who, not possessing Mr. Belsham's attainments, embrace the same opinions in religion upon slight grounds. When new thoughts make a sudden impression on their minds, let them not, by a fatal mistake, ascribe to the force of truth, that which is the natural effect of novelty alone. Let them remember that the best, and wisest, and most eminent philosophers, have diverted mankind from barren inquiries into speculative truths to sober practice, and the exercise of the familiar duties of life: and that, as a too credulous simplicity is a mark of imbecility, so to place no reliance upon authority is to be always a child; for it is to discard the wisdom of past experience. True liberality is the exercise of charity towards the persons of all men, and a toleration of conscientious opinions which differ from our own: it is not a union of jarring sects for selfish purposes, a dereliction of public principles for private ends. I will trouble you no further than to observe, that Unitarianism proposes eternal happiness as the reward of human merit, and therefore differs not essentially from Natural Religion. Yours, &c. A PARISH PRIEST. Mr. URBAN, Essex Street, Dec. 12. Aing to onymous controversy, 51 am not in the habit of reply. I should not have noticed a mistake of a writer in your Magazine for October, who assumes the signature of "Perhaps," if the same error had not been committed by much wiser men than your courteous Correspondent. Bp. Burgess, it seems, is to be justified by the law of "Measure for Measure." "Mr. Belsham has no right to complain," say that Prelate's advocates, "of being charged with asserting what he does not believe, because he has alleged the same of Bp. Horsley." Whether the learned Prelate is satisfied with such a mode of vindication, is not my business to inquire. My present concern is to defend myself. I have said that "Bp. Horsley would have been the first to laugh to scorn the solemn Ignoramus who should seriously profess to-believe that the advantage of the argument remained with him." But this surely is no impeachment of his Lordship's character either for sincerity or veracity. It is indeed a charge of ignorance in his implicit admirers and adventurous advocates: and in this charge I doubt not that the Bishop himself, if living, would readily concur. When Dr. Horsley first entered upon his controversy with Dr. Priestley, he imagined himself perfectly secure. As he advanced, he felt the ground to tremble under him. And in the end, he was compelled to surrender at discretion the strong-hold in which he placed his chief confidence. How could he do otherwise, Mr. Urban, than laugh at those grave and wellmeaning gentlemen, who, awe-struck by his lofty and imposing language, continued to proclaim his victory when he had himself abandoned the field. I do not undertake to give sight to the blind; much less to open the eyes of those who are determined not to see. But if you, Mr. Urban, will allow me a little space in your interesting pages*, I will endeavour, with all possible brevity, to state the argu ments in so distinct a form, and so clear a light, that all who are able and willing to see, may satisfy themselves as to the real issue of the most material questions in this celebrated controversy. Yours, &c. T. BELSHAM, *It shall be given in our Supplement. ED. 6 "The Catholics, who are the loudest complainants, have, in my mind, the least of which to complain; they do all they can to embitter the possession of others, whilst they do nothing to secure a participation to themselves. When I say the Catholics, you, who know my opinions, are aware, that I mean their misdeputed delegates the Catholic Board. Indeed, a medley of more ludicrous, or at the same time of more mischievous composition, could not have been well imagined; it was a drama, of which, physicians without fees, lawyers without briefs, shopkeepers without business, captains without commissions, and bankrupts without certificates, were the component characters-every wretch who was too vain for a counter, and too vulgar for a drawing-room, aspired to eloquence-those who could not rave, could vote-and those who could not vote could legislate. Quicquid agunt homines' was their motto, and, like Anacharsis Cloots, they were all orators of the human race-out of compassion, perhaps, to the individual country which might otherwise have been doomed to their enviable appropriation. With Freedom on their tongues, they founded a Despotism-in the name of Christianity, they erected an Inquisition -- they bearded the Courts; they abused the Government --they taxed the People; at Newry and Tipperary they directly attacked the freedom of election-they put all the printers in gaol-and toasted the "Liberty of the Press." They rent asunder the sacred curtain of the royal nuptials -one, who spoke bad Irish, and worse English, announced himself as Ambassador to the Spanish Cortes-another enacted a Penal Code out of his own imagination, and verified one grievande by caging his publisher; that nothing might be wanting to complete the system of public and private nuisances, they chose a kind of learned pig for their Secretary, who, with his port-folio on his back, ran you down at any distance, and almost grunted you to death with the the burden of his correspondence. In short, there was nothing too grave for their ridicule, or too ridiculous for their solemnities; every man played Punch to his own music, and rang the bell to his own praises; when there was no danger they all roared-and when there was, they all ran, thrusting, like so many ostriches, the safest and silliest part about them into the first receptacle solid enough to confine it; they put on the armour of Achilles, but, unlike Achilles, they exposed nothing but their heels, the only members they had which gave signs of animation. They had one merit, however, and that was, a strict impartiality; for, if they denounced their foes, they imprisoned their friends-those who differed from them they slandered-those who agreed with them they enslavedin short, the universal fate was, either to be their dupe, or their victim. Not content with the enemies that bigotry had arrayed against them, the Helots proclaimed hostilities against each other; and a heartless, headless, stationless aristocracy, hurled their very manacles at the mob, to which they were inferior. It is scarcely possible to believe, that, during this very conciliatory system, they were bellowing for Toleration, and bawling for Liberty. Nor was the metropolis alone infested with their exhibitions; they dealt out roving commissions, and sent out strolling companies through all the provinces-every company had its dramatic orator-what ever is, is wrong,' was prefixed to their curtain, and the motto was realised by the managers behind it. "If the Drama closed with their individual ridicule for their individual exposure, perhaps there might be the less cause for commiseration; but it did not: the miserable people were the real sufferers; the dupes of a mad ambition, or a base avarice they were eternally sacrificed and swindled; and when they bad thrown all they had into the bonfire of rebellion, they were flung in themselves to extinguish it with their blood. Such is the state to which our own fatuity has reduced us: for my part, I see nothing but madness in the past, and misery in the future. In the course of nature, however, I must soon retire from the contest; but I do confess, I weep to see my country my ancestor, and that I should be obliged to strew upon her grave the garland which a laborious life bad gathered for her glory." Mr. URBAN, Pentonville, Dec. 9. HAVING been charged by Mr. Britton, in your last number, with misrepresenting his expressions and meaning, I think nothing further is necessary to "rebut the charge," than to state his own words, ing there adverted to several literary as they appear on your p. 213. Haveve of completing, he proceeds, "Thus concerns which he was then upon the relieved, it is my intention to direct all my care and solicitude to the Cathedral Antiquities; first, from a partiality to the subject; secondly, from the high interest it affords to the Antiquary and Historian; and, thirdly, from ambition to produce a work honourable to all the Artists concerned in the execution, a beautiful specimen of the embellished Literature of the country, and to supersede the necessity of other publications on the same subject." I have troubled you, Mr. Urban, with the whole passage, that Mr. B. may not again accuse me of laying stress on any thing "detached and incomplete," or of making him say what does not appear to be his meaning. To avoid, however, the force of this most explicit declaration, and to prove that I have misrepresented him, Mr. B. says, let us shew "how it is." This he does by quoting, not what I referred to in the Gentleman's Magazine, but what he had stated on the cover of his own publications. Can Mr. B. after this com plain of misrepresentation? But, allowing him this unwarrantable liberty, it avails him nothing to insert the words "THUS CALCULATED to supers sede, &c." unless he wishes it to be understood that he calculates without intention. It appears, Sir, from your having received letters from other hands, condemning Mr.B.'s boast, that I am not alone in my conception of his meaning; and admitting what, perhaps, no man excepting Mr. B. will deny, that he has made the assertion complained of, the inference is unavoidable-he has assumed exclusive excellence. Hence also follows another inference, that he seems to apprehend a decline in the Arts, for I have not positively affirmed that he has intimated or apprehended any such thing. I come now to Mr. Britton's triumphant "Bravo." After what has been said in the Preface to my work on the Cathedrals, I did not expect to be called upon as the author of the note alluded to by Mr. B. as unqualified puffing;" but though it did not originate with me, yet know ing that most essential documents * for the History of Salisbury Cathe-, dral have been of late years consulted for the purpose of publication exclusively by Mr. Dodsworth, I do not hesitate to adopt it as my opinion, that his work will be "by far the most accurate, complete, and even elegant, which has hitherto appeared, or can appear for some time to come upon the subject." Will any person call this "unqualified puffing;" or otherwise conclude than that Mr. B. when all the advantages of Mr. Dodsworth's forthcoming work are before him, may possibly produce a superior publication? Many other remarks in Mr. B.'s reply might be noticed; such as his" determined and unequivocal enmity," the "unpleasant animosity," and public and private hostility," in which he is " often involved:" but these are irrelevant to my purpose, and I am willing to suppose that, in the" rapidity" of writing, he was not aware that such personal confessions were escaping him. J. STORER. * Mr. Dodsworth has been favoured with access to the Episcopal and Chapter-house records: the latter was granted by a regular act of the body. The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop and the Rev. the Dean and Chapter are entitled not only to Mr. Dodsworth's acknowledgments, but to the gratitude of the publick, for their liberality. J. S. Mr. JOHN COOPER, Mr. JAMES SAMPSON, and AN INHABITANT OF SALISBURY, are received. We assure these gentlemen, and others who have taken of fence at an unguarded expression of Mr. Britton, we have not the most distant wish to extol any one Artist to the prejudice of another. The field is wide enough for all; and each may have his peculiar excellence and warm admirers.-We recommend to them all to adhere to the pencil and the graver; and not to use the pen except in describing their various productions. Let each endeavour to be THE BEST, and to gain the meed of superiority-- Detur digniori.-The CATHEDRALS which, from the hands of Carter and Basire, have been published by the Society of Antiquaries, are master-pieces of splendour and fidelity.--The same may be justly said of those by Mr. Buckler. From the specimens given by Mr. Brition, in his "Architectural Antiquities," very great excellence may be augured. We have now before us a most beautiful Volume by Mr. Storer, 2 which shall soon be duly noticed. And IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF HE Times Newspaper, since the presented to the publick the practical result of the greatest improvement connected with printing, since the discovery of the art itself. A system of machinery al, most organic has been devised and arranged, which, while it relieves the human frame of its most laborious efforts in printing, far exceeds all human powers in rapidity and dispatch. After the letters are placed by the compositors, and enclosed in what is called the form, little more remains for man to do, than to attend upon, and watch, this unconscious agent in its operations. The machine (which is moved by a steam-engine) is then merely supplied with paper: itself places the form, inks it, adjusts the paper to the form newly inked, stamps the sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the attendant, at the same time withdrawing the form for distributes, to meet the easuing sheet a fresh coat of ink, which itself again the whole of these complicated acts is now advancing for impression; and performed with such a velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no less than 1100 sheets are impressed in one hour; whereas under the old system not more than 450 could, by the greatest possible exertion, be impressed in that time. It is but justice to say that the paper, since this change in the mode of working, has not only been as well printed, but much better than can, in the hurry of a daily paper, be effected in the common method. The inventor is Mr. FR. KOENIG, and the artizan by whom it has been constructed and brought into action is Mr. BAUER, both of them Saxons by birth. If the complexity and accuracy necessary in such a piece of machinery, be considered, it will not be denied that no small share of praise is due to both these ingenious individuals. But when we consider the machinations and prejudices which Mr. WALTER, the principal proprietor of the Times Newspaper, must have encountered (and with which he must yet lay his account to contend) in bringing this machinery into actual use, use, we know not to which to ascribe the greatest share of merit. Mr. Koenig, in the Times of Dec. 8, published the following interesting account of the origin and progress of his invention: "The first idea relating to this invention occurred to me 11 years ago, and the first experiments were made soon after in Saxony. My original plan was confined to an improved press, in which the operation of laying the ink on the types was to be performed by an apparatus connected with the motion of the coffin, in such a manner that one hand could be saved. As nothing could be gained in expedition by this plan, the idea soon suggested itself to move this press by machinery, or to reduce the several operations to one rotatory motion, to which any first mover might be applied. Its execution was not quite completed when I found myself under the necessity of seeking assistance for the further prosecution of it. "There is on the Continent no sort of encouragement for an enterprise of this description. The system of Patents, as it exists in England, being either unknown or not adopted in the Continental States, there is no inducement for individual enterprise, and projectors are commonly obliged to offer their discoveries to some Government, and to solicit encouragement. I need hardly add, that scarcely ever is an invention brought to maturity under such circumstances. The well-known fact, that almost every invention seeks, as it were, refuge in England, and is there brought to perfection, where the Government does not afford any other protection to inventors than what is derived from the wisdom of the laws, seems to indicate that the Continent has yet to learn from her the best manner of encouraging the mechanical arts. I had my full share in the ordinary disappointments of Continental projectors; and, after having lost in Germany and Russia upwards of two years in fruitless applications, I arrived about eight years ago in England, where I was introduced to, and soon joined by, Mr. Thomas Bensley, a printer so well known to the literary world, that the mention of his name is sufficient. "In this country of spirited enterprise and speculation, it is difficult to have a plan entirely new. Soon after my arrival, I learnt that many attempts of a similar description had been made before mine, and that they had all failed. Patents had been taken, and thousands of pounds sunk without obtaining the desired result. I and Mr. Bensley, how ever, were not discouraged by the failure of our predecessors; the execution of the plan was begun, and as the experiments became very expensive, two other gentlemen, Mr. George Woodfall and Mr. Richard Taylor, eminent printers in London, joined us. "After many obstructions and delays, the first printing machine was completed exactly upon the plan which I have described in the specification of my first patent, which is dated March 29, 1810. It was set to work in April 1811. The sheet (H) of the New Annual Register for 1810, Principal Occurrences," 3000 copies, was printed with it, and is, I have no doubt, the first part of a book ever printed with a machine. 66 "The actual use of it, however, soon suggested new ideas, and led to the rendering it less complicated and more powerful. Impressions produced by means of cylinders, which had likewise been already attempted by others without the desired effect, were again tried by me upon a new plan, namely, to place the sheet round the cylinder, thereby making it, as it were, part of its periphery. After some promising experiments, the plan for a new machine on this principle was made, and a manufactory established for the purpose. Since this time I bave had the benefit of my friend Mr. BAUER'S assistance, who, by the judgment and precision with which he executed my plans, has greatly contributed to their success. The new machine was completed in December, 1812, after great difficulties attending the cylindrical impression. Sheets G and X of Clarkson's Life of Penn, vol. I. are the first printed with an entirely cylindrical press. The papers of the Protestant Union were also printed with it in February and March 1813. Sheet M of Aiton's Hortus Kewensis, vol. V. will shew the progress of improvement in the use of this machine. All together there are about 160,000 sheets now in the hands of the publick, printed with this machine, which, with the aid of two hands, takes off 800 in the hour. It is accurately described in the specifications of my two patents, dated Oct. 30, 1812, and July 23, 1813. "The machines now printing The Times and Mail are upon the same principle as that just mentioned; but they have been contrived for the particular purpose of a newspaper of extensive circulation, where expedition is the great object. "The publick are undoubtedly aware, that never, perhaps, was a new invention put to so severe a trial as the present one, by being used on its first public introduction for the printing of newspa pers, |