ART. 35. Scripture the only Guide to Religious Truth. A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Society of Baptifts in York, in relinquishing the popular Systems of Religion, from the Study of the Scriptures. To which is added, A Brief Account of their prefent Views of the Truth and Practice of the Gospel, in a Series of Letters to a Friend. By D. Eaton. Svo. 134 PP. 25. Lund, York; Johnson, London. 1800. From the account given by thefe apparently well-meaning perfons of themselves, it appears that, from having opened their eyes to perceive the errors of Methodifm, in which they had been involved, they have undertaken to make a religion for themselves, which they conceive to be authorized by the Scriptures. From the partial and imperfect views which they have been able to take, they have constructed a fyftem of Socinianifm and Materialifm, which they attempt to defend from the books of Revelation. Heartily do we wish them truer views of things, and a religion founded on divine authority. When we reviewed Mr. Graham's excellent defence of the Church of England*, we had not feen this Narrative, which, in fact, occafioned that defence. Whatever poifonis here infinuated, by a real or pretended deference to Scripture, will find its beft antidote in the perufal of Mr. Graham's tract. ART. 36. A bort and eafy Method with the Deifts, wherein the Ger tainty of the Chriftian Religion is demonftrated by infallible Proof from Four Rules, which are incompatible to any Impofture that ever yet has been, or that poffibly can be. In a Letter to a Friend. Extracted from the Works of Mr. Charles Leflie. To which is prefixed, A Prefatory Addrefs to the Deiftical Leader. By Jofeph Nightingale. 8vo. 56 pp. Is. Macclesfield printed, and fold. 1800. This admirable tract of Charles Leflie is fo well known to all who have ftudied the evidences of Religion, that there can be no occafion for any recommendation of it. We are glad to fee it republifhed in every poffible form; and we commend the zeal of the present editor for endeavouring to add to its celebrity. His own appendix contains. fome useful tables of prophecies, as given and fulfilled." POLITICS. ART. 37. A Letter to the Right Hon. William Pitt, on the Influence of the Stoppage of Iues in Specie at the Bank of England, on the Prices of Provifions, and other Commodities. The Second Edition; with additional Notes, and a Preface; containing Remarks on the Publication of Sir Francis Baring, Bart. By Walter Boyd, Efq. M. P. 8vo. 5s. Wright. 1801. If we do not allow that Mr. Boyd's doctrine of the effect of the fufpenfion of iffues in fpecie, at the Bank of England, is just in itfelf, *See Brit. Crit. February, 1801, p. 182. не we fhail by no means deny that he has enforced his opinion by much plaufible reasoning. That he is fincere, we feel fufficiently perfuaded. Throughout his publication, he difcovers the mofi entire conviction of the truth of his own theory. Mr. Boyd's principal antagonist is Sir Francis Baring, a gentleman of great experience, ample fortune, and confiderable reputation in the commercial world. It is to this gentleman's obfervations, that the additions in this fecond edition are directed; and, however different opinions may be on the general argument, candour muft allow, that Mr. Boyd has discovered great acutenefs, and a degree of temper and coolnefs, not frequently to be met with in controverfies of any kind. SCARCITY. ART. 38. Remarks on the Deficiency of Grain, occafioned by the bad Harvest of 1799; on the Means of prefent Relief, and of future Plenty. With an Appendix, containing Accounts of all Corn imported and exported, with the Prices from 1697 to the 10th of Oober, 1800 ; and aljs feceral other Tables. By john Lord Sheffield. 8vo. 120 pp. 3s. Debrett. 1800. The noble author propofes to ftate, without referve, the nature, progrefs, and extent of our prefent diftrefs; and thus to enable us to judge how far we have the remedy in our power, and especially the prevention of a recurrence of the fame emergency. In Part I. it is fhown, that, our prefent difficulties being dependent on, and blended with thofe arifing from the bad harvest in 1799, the whole of that period is properly included in the following obfervations: the cry againt monopoly and iniquitous practices, is reprobated; and the whole crop of 199 (meaning, we prefume, wheat only) is afferted to have been lefs than two thirds of the ufual confumption. We meet with an ufeful note at p. 22, fhowing it to be probable, that an army and navy, of 300,000 men, do not confume more British corn than they did as individuals, particularly as peafants. Farmers are vindicated from the charge of combining to hoard their grain. The late conduct of millers, near London, is not commended; but they are vindicated from the charge of monopoly. Part II. fets forth the means of relief from the prefent fcarcity. A maximum price of provifion is strongly reprobated, and is shown to have failed in three inftances, in 1315, in 1689, and under the atrocious tyranny of Robefpierre. The fcheme of raifing farmers' rents, in proportion to the increafed price of wheat, is faid to be extravagant and impracticable; public magazines, an advance of the price of labour, and parochial largeffes are difcommended. "There feems, then, to be no reasonable expectation of relief, except through management, including the ufe of fubftitutes, and importation." P. 66. Some of us can atteft ftrongly the juftice of the following remark: The affize is fet on a bad principle; and, if we retain any afüze, it fhould be changed: befides, it is at prefent more favorable to the bakers to make bread of the finest, than of the whole of the flour; it fhould be the reverfe." P. 85. Very july is the practice practice cenfured, "which was almoft general in the country, of felling wheat or flour at reduced prices, thereby counteracting the na tural and falutary effect of market prices, and greatly promoting the cenfumption of that article, the fcarcity of which is fo alarming." P. 86. An Act of Parliament is recommended (p. 8) and has fince been made, for relieving the poor, in part, by substitutes for bread. Governor Pownall's plan for putting millers, as well as bakers, under material regulations, is properly commended. The compaffionate attention, in various ways, of families refiding in the country, towards their poor neighbours, is most highly and juftly extolled. If there be not an error of the prefs at p. 96, the cafe is one unheard of by us, of occupiers of land paying 25s. in the pound, at rack-rents, towards the maintenance of the poor. At p. 99, we were difappointed, by finding that the third Part," On the Means of future Plenty," is for a fhort time poftponed, with the view of difpatching the publication of the first and fecond Parts. To this third Part we shall be glad to pay attention, having found in the prefent tract many practicable and very ufeful fuggeftions. ART. 39. Industry, and a pious Submiffion, Charity, and a ftri& Economy, recommended and enforced, as the beft Means of alleviating the prefent Diftrefs. A Sermon, preached in the Parish Church of St. Anne. Weftminster, on Sunday, the 14th Day of December, 1800, being the Day on which bis Majefty's Proclamation, on the Scarcity of Grain, was directed to be read. By Jof. Jefferson, A. M. and F. A. S. 8vo. 34 PP. IS. Lea. 1800. The author's dedication of this Sermon to Mr. Archdeacon Eaton, Rector of St. Anne's, is very creditable to both of them. From John vi, 5, the preacher begins by impreffing upon the minds of his hearers an attention to thofe evident truths, the creative power, and providential care of God; and a conviction," that when God deranges the ufual order of his bounty, and beftows, with a sparing, what is generally given with a profufe hand, it may be amongst his defigns, the fevereft of which, we know, are tempered with wisdom, to draw our attention to these truths, fo as to enforce religion and piety; to teach us by his judgments, what we have refufed to learn by his mercies." P. 8. He then ftates, in substance, the miracle of the five barley loaves, and the two fmall fishes; and deduces from it a fummary of those duties which the circumstances of the times call us to perform; namely, a fubmiffive acquiefcence on the part of the lower ranks, a diffufive charity on the part of the higher, a rigid economy in all." These feveral topics are difcufled with much good fenfe, and with a confiderable portion of energy and eloquence. The admonition to fervants, at p. 26, is calculated to be generally ufeful; for we fear, that, if economy in the ufe of flour and bread has not been fo univerfal as might be wifhed, much of the blame may be imputed to the perverfenefs of perfons of this defcription. The proceedings (ftated in the Appendix) of the inhabitants of St. Anne's parish, in veftry, in confequence of the Royal Proclamation, appear to have been very prudent and judicious. P. 12. ART. 1 ART. 40. Caufes of the Scarcity investigated. Alfo, an Account of the moft ftriking Variations in the Weather, from October, 1798, to September, 1800. To which is prefixed, the Price of Wheat, every Year, from 1600, to the prefent Era. By Samuel Hopkinson, B. D. late Fellow of Clare-Hall, Rector of Elton in Northamptonshire, and Vicar af Morton. 8vo. 52 pp. Newcomb, Stamford; Jacob, Peterborough; Debrett, London. 1800. The Preface to this tract is not quite unexceptionable: "How the leifure hours of divines, in convivial cities and rural towns, are commonly taken up, it is not neceffary to inform the public." We know that many of thofe hours are taken up in ways at least as ufeful and refpectable, as in forming defcriptions of "variations in the weather; of the feafons of fowing wheat, barley, beans, and oats; of the getting in of harvests; or even of the fize of the hail-ftones which fell on the fourth of May, 1800." If a divine should think, that invidious reflections upon any among his order will help to amend it, he may, in thefe times, very fafely, and not indecorously, leave the business to thofe who do not belong to that order. We agree with the author, "that one, amongst other existing causes of the fcarcity, fo much complained of, is the extraordinary ungeniality of the feafons." P. 2. Indeed, we account this to be the grand caufe. The defcription, at p. 36, of the effects of the present war upon our fupply of provifions, is at leaft greatly overcharged, if not wholly erroneous: and very unjust, we think, at prefent, is the remark, that our various diftreffes" are rendered still more intollerable, by the diffolute conduct of many in the higher Grades of Life, and by the Feftivity of the middle orders." P. 37. That fome useful obfervations may be found in this tract, we readily allow; but they are greatly counterbalanced by the rafhnefs of its animadverfions, and (in a literary view) by the affectation and turgidity of its ftyle. ART. 41. A Hebrew Grammar, for the Ufe of the Students of the This Hebrew Grammar is upon the Maforetical plan, and is a medium between the more voluminous and complicated work of Buxtorf, and the fhorter inftitutional works that have been made out of it, in later times. Nothing can be done, in this walk of Grammar, but to lay the fubject before the ftudent, with fimplicity and perfpicuity. Dr. Fitzgerald is entitled to this praife; and we have no fcruple in faying, that this appears to be as good an introduction to the knowledge of Hebrew Grammar as can be defired. So printed, without the article, We We may juft remark, that in The Scale of equal Parts, Sherwing the Serviles and Radicals at one View, which is placed oppofite to the titlepage, is a very ingenious contrivance for exhibiting, in a small diagram, the form and claffification of the Hebrew letters. It is to be regretted, that the muu is placed among the radicals, inftead of the ferviles, which feems its proper place. We rather think, that the dage, in the gimel, in p. 20, is not eu phonic, but is meant to compenfate the be, and therefore comes under the fecond, and not the third rule. In p. 61, it might have been better not to fay, that pronouns compenfate the defect of the verb fubftantive; but that it is an idiom peculiar to the Hebrew, to make the fentence elliptical, by leaving out the verb fubftantive, as the author has more correctly stated it in p. 155. In p. 69, he omits to mention the dages forte, as a characteristic of the conjugation Hithpael, though he has properly noticed it in p. 101. In pp. 38, 39, in fpeaking of the rule for forming the plural of nouns feminine, he fhould rather have faid, when the he and the tau are radicals, they are not omitted in forming the plural. We mention thefe as matters of fmall importance, and to fhow that, when we commend the whole of the work, it is not without having examined its parts. ART. 42. Eight Meteorological Journals of the Years 1793 to 1800. Kept in London, by William Bent. To which are added, Obfervations on the Difeafes in the City, and its Vicinity. Alfo an Introduction; including Tables from Eight preceding Journals of the greatest, leaft, and mean Height of the Barometer and Thermometer, in every Month of the Years 1785 to 1792. 8vo. 15s. neatly bound. Bent, PaternosterRow. 1801. We have regularly noticed thefe Journals from their commencement, and have seen occafion to praise both the plan and the execution. The collective tables now published, to complete the volume, give 29,88 as the mean state of the barometer for the whole period, and 50,8 for that of the thermometer, without doors. The greateft height of the barometer is 30,68, and the leaft 28,57. The greateft height of the thermometer 87, and the least 11,5. So useful a work will doubtless be continued. ART. 43. Practical Philofophy of focial Life; or, the Art of converfing with Men: after the German of Baron Knigge. In Two Volumes. By P. Will, Minifter of the Reformed German Congregation in the Savoy. Crown 8vo. IOS. Cadell and Davies. 1799. Our previous knowledge of fome part of Baron Knigge's Life, gave us little inclination to ftudy his " Practical Philofophy." His errors and eccentricities are very curioufly painted by himself in his Introduction; he feems to us exactly the Old Man and his Afs in the fable, trying to please all, and therefore offending all. The part he took in the pernicious fociety of illuminati, is mentioned only in general terins, A a BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XVII, MARCH, 1801. by |