sufferers by Rain and (wt we felt not so much of,) hail and lightning."

1568. Mdm. that a certaine Italian

brought into the cittie of Durham, the 11th day of June, in the yeare above sayd, a very great strange & monstrous serpent, in length sixteene feete, in quantitie & dimentions greater than a great horse; which was taken & killed by speciall pollicie in Ethiopia, within the Turkes dominions. But before it was killed, it had devoured (as it is credibly thought), more than 1000 p'sons, and destroyed a whole countrey."

"From Norton.

"The Reverend Mr. Thomas Forster, A. M. Parochia¦ Curate of Barnard Castle, son of the worthy and Reverend Mr. Joseph Forster, present Vicar of this place, bur. 29 May, 1743. Comeliness and cheerfulness shone brightly in him: his expressions were handsome, facetious, and mild to all easy and just: to his friends particularly respectful. In short, be, wanted no quality or virtue to make him a compleat gentleman and good Christian. He died universally lamented by all that knew him, or had the happiness to be of his acquaintance, in the 35th year of his

age.

"Mrs. Mary Forster, wife of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Forster, Vicar, bur. 27 April, 1744. It may be truly said of this gentlewoman, that none ever excell'd, & very few equall'd her, in the true social virtues which adorn human life. She employed her whole time in continual acts of piety & charity. In her, the poor never wanted a friend to relieve them in their various distresses, nor her neighbours a willing & impartial mediator in their differences. In short, the whole pleasure of her life was doing good, & her death is a general loss."

We are led to hope for continuation of this "Chronicon Mirabile."

74. Remarks on The General Sea-bathing Infirmary at West Brook, near Margate; its public utility and local treatment. By Christianus. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 130. Simpkin and Marshall. TRULY this is a very singular publication, interesting in many respects, although compiled from documents chiefly of a controversial nature, and even of an angry complexion in some particulars." Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi,” i.e. in plain English, The Governors of a noble Institution dispute, and its poor inmates suffer of course.-We unfeignedly regret whilst we record the melancholy fact. Not inattentive GENT. MAO. April, 1820.

spectators of the bustling scene, yet cautious not to mix in the fray which we lament, we consider ourselves qualified to offer some impartial thoughts on the subject; and we do here offer them accordingly, in the spirit, and (we should be happy to add) with the power, of conciliation. With almost all the known parties engaged in the controversy we live in habits either of intimate friendship or of courteous acquaintance and sincere good-will: and, respecting each gentleman concerned for the purity of his separate motives, and for the uprightness of his intentions, we yet cannot but own our reluctant conviction that every disputant in his turn, and in proportion to his means, seems to have erred from the practice of Christian charity. Throughout the unnatural contest, we have sought anxiously and in vain, to discover, if possible, one direct and manly overture towards peace; we have tried to trace in the muddy road one step distinguished for the regularity and precision of its onward course; we have listened to many conversations, and have perused many papers, with this view to no purpose; and now we terminate our enquiries with a brief Review of the book before us, still cherishing hopes that men of character and worth will ere long mutually forgive their heats, and forget their estrangement.

The Work is pleasingly dedicated, thus:

"To the friend of man, who shews forth the praise of God, not only with his lip, but in his life; to James Taddy, esq. of Hartsdown, V. P. of the General Seabathing Infirmary; these REMARKS, in and gratefully dedicated, by Christianus," testimony of his virtue, are respectfully

A concise Preface informs us, that

Throughout the following pages the Compiler is not aware of any misrepresentation on his part :"

an information which we will not allow ourselves to doubt, since we perceive the Author to have preserved with scrupulous and laudable fidelity every authentic document produced by both parties, no matter whether such document made for or against his own side of the question.

We shall state the rise of the debate.-A Clergyman, whom to name and to honour for his discharge of parochia!

parochial duties we consider insepa rable acts of justice, on the 29th of August, 1814, commenced an attack on the management of THE INFIR MARY; that attack occasioned a most elaborate defence: and the war of words ended in the exclusion of the interests of that Establishment from the public benefit of the Clergyman's pulpit, and every other Church-pulpit in the whole island of Thanet, ever since. This we deem rather a strong measure: and in the pamphlet before us it is made the theme of animated argument. On Sunday, 1st of October, 1815, a disgraceful counterexpedient was adopted, and two gentlemen were taken into custody: the illegality of their detention led to a law-suit, &c. &c.-" Hinc ille lachrymæ." Fresh troubles occurred in August, 1819. Every circumstance is narrated in the present publication in warm, but gentlemanly language on the part of its Compiler. We should have been glad to have discovered, however, less of party zeal and more of charitable forbearance in certain glowing passages.

For THE GENERAL SEA-BATHING INFIRMARY itself, and its present Directors and Governors we entertain sentiments of grounded esteem. ESTO PERPETUA.

75. A Letter to the Author of a Tract, entitled," The Stage," &c. By James Plumtre, B. D. Vicar of Great Gransden, Huntingdonshire, &c. 12mo. pp. 21. IN p. 6 of this pamphlet, we find the following passage:

"The Fathers of the Christian Church, by conspiring to suppress the Theatres of Greece and Rome, re-barbarized Europe,

and condemned the victims of their tuition to a millennium of ignorance, vassallage and woe."

And in p. 7, we are told that the Theatre has been a palladium of liberty, wisdom, and civilization. We coincide partly with these highly-coloured statements; and we are certain that the Drama is a strong support of our national good sense, especially in checking foppery, frivolity, and nonsense. It has, inter alia, in Tartuffe and Mother Cole, properly exposed canting hypocrisy, and the furious desire of the Methodists to abolish its delightful, and often very instructive powers of entertainment,

has produced this pamphlet, in which Mr. Plumtre very properly recom mends expurgation only. By what authority do the Methodists call upon a learned and enlightened Nation to adopt their trash, when rational piety alone justly exhibits the glory of God, and safely interferes in human affairs? Does not a late Quarterly Review state, that they have propagated nothing but dirt, idleness, and groaning, as true Religion, among the Hottentots? Does not this pamphlet state their Gothic hostility to taste and the fine arts, when (p. 8) they grumble at a statue of Apollo being placed on Drury-lane theatre? When our manufacturers are distressed, are our public places of amusement to be abolished, which occasion an expenditure probably of more than two millions, in dress, toys, and jewellery, because those who attend them must appear in superior apparel. Did this brave, this highly-informed, this opulent and philosophical Nation, learn to acquire its glory, its wealth, and its science from itinerant preachers? and is it thought that we can be reduced to barbarisin, and be priest-ridden like Spain and Portugal? We speak not in an intolerant spirit. We admit the high merit of the Moravian missious. We respect the learning of numerous excellent Dissenters. We esteem the general virtue and benevolence of the Quakers: but we will oppose bare-faced folly and mischief, from an assured principle, that Christianity is not hos

tile to Reason. Furthermore we deprecate the conversion of plays into sermonizing school-books, where the only dramatis personæ are good papas and mamas. Sensible adults do not need to be treated like children. Wit and good writing highly aid the intellectual taste, and generate a preponderant regard for mind and sentiment. The licence desipiendi in loco, is not only a necessary relaxation, but much more favourable to charity and brotherly love, than the insulting contracted egotism and disputatious narrow-minded pertinacity of Un-God-like Fanaticism.

76. A Sermon preached in the Parish

Church of Weston-under- Penyard, on Sunday, July 18, 1819, in aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By Richard Walond, M. A. Rector of the said Parish; and Treasurer

77.

Treasurer of the Cathedral Church of
Hereford. 8vo. pp. 24. Rivingtons.

A Discourse addressed to Unbelievers; or an Astronomical View of the Existence 23. of the Deity. By the same. 8vo. pp. TWO instructive and sound Discourses, where new matter is happily produced on subjects apparently trite. Take the following specimens:

"Whatever is temporal was made by a superior eternal power, that produced it according to His will. The Cause therefore is an intellectual Being. For, supposing a Cause to be entirely the same, and not to produce an effect that afterwards it produces, without any preceding change, it is evident that it operates not by necessity of nature, but voluntarily, and therefore with understanding; as a man who speaks (if we may so say), that before was silent, according to the liberty of his own will." 2d Serm. p. 13.

Mr. Walond concludes with extracts from Professor Vince's Refutation of Atheism. The following passages must, we think, be deemed highly interesting.

"The Universe is also found to contain phænomena, very unlike to any that we have hitherto described. With the best glasses, objects have been discovered, under the appearance of round well defined bodies, of a faint light, some of which have a luminous point situated in the centre; and in respect to their magnitude they cannot be less in diameter, than that of our own planetary system, including the Georgium Sidus. But the most remarkable and singular phænomenon is under the form of an elliptical ring, of a magnitude immense, and beyond the power of all calculation. p. 20.

"When astronomers, with their best telescopes, penetrate into the depths of the Universe, and arrive at the visible boundary of the creation, when apparently nothing is beyond but void space, we might expect darkness to be the termination. In this vast concave expanse however, there are several faintly-illuminated spots, and one of considerable extent; appearing like openings in the dark back-ground into more distant regions. And in all these the boundary of light and darkness is very well definedwhence then the source of this light? and why confined to parts of the expanse?" P. 20.

"The extent of our views, great as it now is, probably comprehends but a very To adsmall part of the Universe. mit a time when there were no created beings, we must suppose the Deity to have existed an eternity of ages by himself, and inactive; a supposition very

80. God's Revenge against Rebellion: an Historical Poem. With copious Notes, illustrative of the present State of Ireland. Occasioned by a late Edict from Rome, and a Circular Letter of a Titular Bishop in the West of Ireland, against Bibles and Protestant Schoolmasters. By the Rev. John Graham, M. A. 8vo. pp. 24. Duncan at Glasgow.

IN this animated Poem the misery of the lower class of the natives of Ireland is strongly depicted, and one primary cause of it pointed out: "Near where the Boyne runs babbling [vale,

thro' the dale, Where Spring in all her glory decks the Where tuneful birds, inspired with joy and love,

Raise to the skies the music of the grove, See where the pardoned rebel's cottage [ing lands!

stands,

To shame the beauty of the neighbourThro' all the roof, with soot and ashes foul,

The melancholy blasts of winter howl: Together on the earth, iu this damp sty, His dog, his wife, his swine, and children lie.

An unfenced garden, emblem of his sloth, Exhibits weeds of wild luxuriant growth: Vile are the marks on this abode of sin, Dunghills all round, and filthiness within. The wretched owner once was young and gay,

And no mean talent marked his early day; Tall in his stature, cheerful in his air, Smooth were his manners, and his visage fair; But

But Superstition, foe to human kind, Had laid strong hold upon his youthful mind;

Taught him to tremble at a Bigot's word, And kept him from the SCRIPTURES OF THE LORD."

"STRANGERS visiting Ireland are apt to charge a considerable portion of the filth and misery of the Popish peasantry, either to the Government, or the landed proprietors; and to represent them in the tours they publish, as an oppressed and broken-hearted people, rendered indolent by extreme ill usage. But those best acquainted with Ireland, know, that the wretchedness of these deluded people proceeds almost exclusively from causes which are unhappily beyond the controul of either the Government or landed proprietors. The poor Irish Roman Catholicks are, in the first instance, most oppressively taxed and fleeced by their own clergy; without whose purchased permission, they can neither be baptized, instructed, married, buried, nor even rest in their graves, -not to mention the continued drain, by purchased absolutions and permissions to commit what they are taught to consider sins, venial or mortal; and, beside, this mendicity is in a manner interwoven with the very frame and constitution of Popery."

81. Britannia's Tears over her Patriot and Hero, the late illustrious and benevolent Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Field-Marshal, &c. Earl of Dublin, K.G., G. C. B., K. G. V., who departed this life January 23, 1820, in the 53d year of his age; an Elegy, descriptive of his Life and Last Hours; with Engravings of the Duke and Duchess and of Kensington Palace. which is added, A Biographical Memoir. By a Clergyman, late of Oxford. 8vo. pp. 30. G. Greenland.

To

THESE hasty effusions of the heart," we are told, are the production of one who "admired the virtues, felt the personal kindness, and will ever retain a lively remembrance of the high moral worth, and transcendant benevolence of the Roya! Duke."

The Author justly observes that

"He was educated by his Royal Father in Christian Principles. The seeds of virtue sown in him expanded, as he grew up, into blossoms and fruit, resembling those which adorned the youth, the manhood, and the old age of our late venerated Sovereign. He had rank and affluence. There was no need for him to practice bypocrisy to serve his interests; he loved religion for its own sake; he practiced

"In every department of Literature, France occupies a lofty pre-eminence.Her Divines, her Historians, her Statesmen, and her Poets are all of the first order. In Divinity, the sermons and funeral orations of Bossuet, Massillon, Flechier, and Fenelon breathe the sublimest eloquence, the purest morality, and the most ardent and unaffected piety. -In History, Rollin and St. Real are justly admired for their truth and perspicuity. In Statistics, the writings of Montesquieu and D'Aguesseau contain the soundest principles of Government with the finest sentiments of Libertywhile in Poetry, a host of illustrious names presents itself, from which it is difficult to make a selection.-The Satires of Boileau and the Fables of La Fontaine have never been surpassed-there is a strength and brilliancy in the one, a terseness and naïveté in the other, that defy competition.Florian and the Abbé Delille are entitled Poets, and the Henriade is eminently disto the reputation of elegant and descriptive tinguished for two of the grandest characteristics of Epic Poetry, Sublimity and Pathos. But it is the Dramatic genius of France that constitutes her greatest glory! The dignity of the tragic muse has been nobly upheld by Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire; while the inimitable Moliere, in comedy, has so completely formed a school of his own, that some of the best writers of our own country have not scrupled to adopt him for their model, and to borrow from his resources - his plays are the most finished productions of the comic muse; in the delineation of character, he must however rank second to Shakspeare, for the world never produced three such exquisite originals as Mercutio, Benedick, and Falstaff.

"The following Extracts have been selected

lected with the greatest care-they are taken up from an early period, that those who have a desire to trace the gradual progress of French Literature may have an opportunity of gratifying their curiosity -for it is one of the most pleasing occupations of the scholar, to observe how time, the great Teacher! silently improves a language, corrects its barbarisms, and brings it to that state of refinement, which, under a liberal and enlightened Government, it is certain to arrive at.

"The Biographical sketches that accompany each extract are as copious as the limits of the work would allow. They are derived from the most authentic sources."

The Work now before us is not only designed for the library of the scholar, but for the amusement and instruction of youth; and an assurance is given in the Preface, that

"It may be safely placed in the hands of the student, to guide his course of reading, and to stimulate him to explore those treasures which an attentive perusal of the most celebrated French Authors will open to his view, Nothing has been admitted, however distinguished for ability, that can possibly give offence either to morals or to religion-for genius loses all claim to respect when it basely descends to mislead the judgment or corrupt the heart."

The Authors from whom the several extracts are selected (and a biographical sketch of each is given)

are,

"D'Aguesseau, D'Alembert, Bailly, Barthélemy, Bayle, Berquin, Bonnet, Bossuet, Boursault et Babet, Bruyère, Buffon, Condorcet, Crébillon, Diderot, Duclos, Du Paty, Fénélon, Fléchier, Florian, Fontenelle, Frederic JI. Guibert, Hel. vétius, La Harpe, Mably, Maintenon, Marmontel, Massillon, Mercier, Montaigue, Montesquieu, Pascal, Patru, Raynal, Rochefoucauld, Rollin, J. J. Rousseau, Le Sage. Saint-Evremont, Saint Réal, Sévigné, Thomas, Vernet, Vertot, and Voltaire."

The Second Volume is announced

as in the press, containing extracts from sixty of the best French Poets, with a Memoir of each.

83. Cornelius Nepos, De Vita Excellentium Imperatorum. Interpretatione et Notis illustravit Nicolaus Courtin, Humanitatis Professor in Universitate Parisiensi, jussu Christianissimi Regis," in usum Serenissimi Delphini. Undevicesimam hanc editionem curavit Joannes Carey, LL.D. 8vo. pp. 244. Scatchard.

DR. CAREY is most certainly an intelligent writer, and indefatigable in his endeavours to promote the cause of Classical Instruction.

The present useful edition of Cornelius Nepos is thus introduced:

"However inconsistent it may appear, Gentle Reader, to address you here in the vulgar tongue, after having used the Latin in those occasional Notes which I have scattered through the following pages, I have chosen to pen this advertisement in plain English, as the more likely to be read: for I am desirous that it should be read, in order that you may rightly understand, what you have to expect in the present publication.

"In the latter editions of the Dauphin Nepos, the text had been rendered, in many places, very corrupt, partly by the accidental inaccuracies of typography, partly by intentional, but unauthorised and injudicious alterations. The Propri etors, therefore, wishing to have the work republished from the original quarto edition printed for the use of the Dauphin in the year 1675, intrusted me with the care of editing it from a copy of that edition; with an injunction to follow it verbatim, without making any alteration beyond the bare correction of typographic errorswhich, by the bye, I found much more numerous than I could possibly have expected in a work printed by the express order of Louis XIV, for the instruction of his son and heir apparent.

"Pursuant to the tenor of my commission, have closely adhered to my original, both in the text and notes-only correcting the typographic inaccuraciesbut otherwise abstaining from alteration, or any exercise of my own judgment, except in the orthography of a few words, and in the punctuation, which I have studied to render more conducive to perspicuity, and more satisfactory to the lear

ner.

acquitted myself of the task which I had 'Having done thus much, I have fully undertaken; and am no further responsible for any word or phrase, either in the text or notes, which is but faithfully copied from the Dauphin editor, on whom alone the responsibility must rest; since I was bound by my instructions to follow him as my guide and pattern.

"In several cases, however, I have added short Notes -some containing various readings from the Bipontine, Van Staveren's, and Harless'es editions, which I occasionally consulted; though I did not think it necessary to enter upon a regular collation of the text; considering the li

*All marked with my initials (J. C.) to distinguish them from those of the Dauphin editor."