are well founded in point of authority, (for all depends upon that,) they afford a condescension to the state of our faculties, of which those, who have reflected most upon the subject will be the first to acknowledge the want and the value." p. 475. The topics illustrated are, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, self-existence, necessary existence, spirituality. * Chap. XXV. The unity of the Deity. The design of this chapter is to shew the uniformity of the plan observed in the universe which the author exemplifies, and from which he deduces the following inferences. "Certain, however, it is that the whole argument for the divine unity goes no further than to an unity of council. "It may likewise be acknowledg. ed, that no arguments which we are in possession of, exclude the ministry of subordinate agents. If such there be, they act under a presiding, a controlling will; because they act according to certain general restrictions, by certain common rules, and, as it should seem, upon a general plan; but still such agents, and different ranks and classes, and degrees of them, may be employed." p.487. Chap. XXVI. The goodness of the Deity. This subject is divided into two propositions, which, after ample illus tration, are repeated. "First, that, in a vast plurality of instances, in which contrivance is perceived, the design of the contrivance is beneficial: secondly, that the Deity has added pleasure to animal sensations beyond what was necessary for any other purpose, or when the purpose, so far as it was necessary, might have been effected by the operation of pain. "Whilst these propositions can be maintained, we are authorized to ascribe to the Deity the character of benevolence: and what is benevolence at all must in him be infinite benevolence, by reason of the infinite, that is to say, the incalculably great number of objects upon which it is exercised." p. 526, 527. The nature of the evils we experience is considered in a variety of cases, and shewn to be conducive to advantage. This is followed by pra posing the question, “Why, under the regency of a supreme and benevolent Will, should there be, in the world, so much as there is of the appearance of chance?" p. 540. In answering this question the author says, "The appearance of chance will always bear proportion to the ignorance of the observer. The cast of a die as regularly follows the laws of motion as the going of a watch; yet because we can trace the operation of those laws through the works and movements of the watch, and cannot trace them in the shaking and throwing of the die, (though the laws be the same, and prevail equally in both cases,) we call the turning up of the number of the die chance, the pointing of the index of the watch, machinery, order, or by some name which excludes chance. It is the same in those events, which depend upon the will of a free and rational agent. The verdict of a jury, the sentence of a judge, the resolution of an assembly, the issue of a contested election, will have more or less the appearance of chance, might be more or less the subject of a wager, according as we were less or more acquainted with the reasons which influenced the deliberation. The difference resides in the information of the observer, and not in the thing itself; which, in all the cases proposed, proceeds from intelligence, from mind, from counsel, from design. "Now when this one cause of the appearance of chance, viz. the ignorance of the observer, comes to be applied to the operations of the Deity, it is easy to foresee how fruitful it must prove of difficulties and of seeming confusion. It is only to think of the Deity to perceive what variety of objects, what distance of time, what extent of space and action, his counsels may, or rather must comprehend. Can it be wondered at, that, of the purposes which dwell in such a mind as this, so small a part should be known to us? It is only necessary therefore to bear in our thought that, in proportion to the inadequateness of our information, will be the quantity in the world of apparent chance.' p. 550, 551. A variety of topics upon this subject succeeds, and the author makes the following conclusion upon the subjects contained in the chapter. I have already observed that, when we let in religious considerations, we often let in light upon the difficulties of nature. So in the fact now to be accounted for, the degree of happiness, which we usually enjoy in this life, may be better suited to a state of trial and probation than a greater degree would be. The truth is, we are rather too much delighted with the world than too little. Imperfect, broken, and precarious as our pleasures are, they are more than sufficient to attach us to the eager pursuit of them. A regard to a future state can hardly keep its place as it is. If we were designed, therefore, to be influenced by that regard, might not a more indulgent system, a higher, or more uninterrupted state of gratification, have interfered with the design? At least it seems expedient that mankind should be susceptible of this influence, when presented to them; that the condition of the world should not be such as to exclude its operation, or even to weaken it more than it does. In a religious view, (however we may complain of them in every other) privation, disappointment, and satiety are not without the most salutary tendencies." p. 570, 571. Chap. XXVII, Conclusion. The author enforces investigation by the advantages to be derived from it, and the greater benefits experienced from impression, observing it is one thing to assent to a proposition, and a very different thing to have imbibed its influence. The Doctor believes he shall not be contradicted when he says, if one train of thinking be more desirable than another, it is that which regards the phænomena of nature with a constant reference to a supreme intelligent Author. The last subject noticed is that of the resurrection of the body, with which the work closes thus: 66 Upon the whole, in every thing which respects this awful, but, as we trust, glorious change, we have a wise and powerful Being (the Author, in nature, of infinitely various expedients for infinitely various ends,) upon whom to rely for the choice and appointment of means adequate to the execution of any plan which his goodness or his justice may have formed for the moral and account able part of his terrestrial creation. That great office rests with him, be it ours to hope and to prepare, under a firm and settled persuasion that living and dying we are his; that life is passed in his constant presence, that death resigns us to his merciful disposal." p. 585, 586. CXLII. THREE DISCOURSES, I. On the Use of Books. 11. On the Result and Effects of Study. III. On the Elements of Literary Taste. Delivered at the Anniversary Meetings of the Library Society at Chichester, Jan. 1800, 1801, 1802. By the President, 12mo. AFTER a brief exordium the au thor enters upon the subject of his first discourse in the following manner. "We read either for amusement, or for improvement, or for both: the present question is, how these may be most effectually attained. "With respect to amusement ; though the very term implies something rather occasional than habitual, it is extremely desirable that the source of it be not very soon exhausted: the supplies of it, therefore, require some degree of economy in their use we must not draw on them too often, or too long at a time. Almost proverbially, unhappy are those who live only to be amused: a circumstance from which even the busy may draw a useful lesson of moderation in the pursuit of their amusements. If, therefore, we have not time and opportunity for serious study, and wish to derive amusement from books, we should, unless our intervals for this recreation are very short indeed, have recourse to such books as may supply something besides mere entertainment; something that may gently exercise and strengthen, while it amuses the mind. Books of this description will never tire; they will never produce that cloying effect, that sensation nearly approaching disgust, so often experienced by those who in reading seek for nothing but amusement. I do not know that I can illustrate my meaning more clearly than by adverting to a species of fictitious history, which has lately become fashionable, and in which the imperfection and defects of the 596 Discourses at the Meetings of the Chichester Library Society. design have been forgotten in the spirit and success of the execution. The object of the writers of these novels is to lead the reader through a series of unexpected and surprising adventures, and through scenes of astonishment and terror from the beginning of the story to the end. Nice discriminations of character, a conduct and language answerable to such discriminations, and some important moral lesson as the result of the whole, we either in vain look to find; or, if they are to be found, we have not time or leisure to consider or to profit by them: a breathless curiosity alone is raised, which the art of the writer enables him to support to the end of the work, at which, when the reader arrives, the sentiment which principally fills his mind is regret that the entertainment is over, mixed with a vacant, unpleasant, and complicated feeling, made up of restlessness and fatigue, impatience and satiety. Now let any one compare the effect of reading one of the best of this sort of novels, through the whole of which curiosity is stretched to the utmost, and the amusement imparted merely as such) is of the very highest (considered kind, with the state of mind in which he is left by the perusal of an essay or a tale by HAWKESWORTH, JOHNSON, or ADDISON; and he will hardly hesitate a moment which kind of entertainment to prefer: by the latter he will feel his mind braced and fortified, and free to enter with alacrity on any new amusement or employment that offers itself. One principal cause of this difference is, that the entertainment derived from the latter kind of reading is moderate; for such is the constitution, both of the animal and intellectual nature of man, that if he wishes to prolong and make the most of his gratifications, he must avoid excess. "The field of amusing literature in this country is extremely ample, the soil rich, and cultivated with great care. If the reader's taste incline him to poetry, the harvest is so plen. teous, that the chief difficulty will be found in the selection of the fruits. Some of the principal writers of English periodical papers have just been mentioned. The superior and almost unrivalled reputation of these has yet left unclaimed a considerable share of praise, which we readily concede to the productions of later essayists, who have been enabled, by suggests some hints upon the most is founded upon BACON's division of thor unites under one head for con- From this the author proceeds to from even a superficial knowledge "another, and an important result of history, and much more from an intimate acquaintance with it, remains to be considered. Princes and statesmen, intoxicated with the power and influence they actually possess, are extremely liable to dream that they are masters of what they do 4 not possess, and accordingly make frequent attempts to produce considerable and permanent changes in the state of society. Vain and presumptuous attempt! these deluded men know not that they are instruments in the hands of a superior intelligence to work out not their own designs, but his. They mean to produce one effect, and another extremely different is the result; and this is often the case with the few who are actuated by benevolent and public spirited motives, as with the far greater number who act only from the basest and most selfish ones. To give a few instances: the assassination of Julius Cæsar was doubtless in itself a most unjustifiable, treacherous, and cruel deed; yet of the chief actor in that tragedy it has been not more beautifully than truly said, This was the noblest Roman of them all: them. His life was gentle, and the elements up And say to all the world, this was a man!' Certainly, in the part which he took, Brutus had no view but that of restoring, as he thought, the liberty of Rome: but what was the sequel, and in all probability the effect, in a great degree, of this attempt?-the establishment, after a few years, of a tyranny a thousand times more jealous, sanguinary, and odious, than that mild though absolute sway, to a subjection to which Brutus thought death itself preferable. To pass from ancient history to events of later date, and from a character of eminent virtue to one of at least equal depravity; we may remark, that the craft, perfidy, and violence which Louis XI. of France employed for the purpose of annexing to his own dominions the valua bie territories of the princess of Burgundy, had the immediate effect of throwing them into the possession of the house of Austria. Thus Louis' (to use the words of an eloquent historian) contributed, far contrary to his intention, to raise up a rival power, which, during two centuries, ⚫ has thwarted the measures, opposed the arms, and checked the progress ⚫ of his successors.' "One of the most important æras in the history of our own country is the period when Henry VII. allowed his nobility to alienate their estates. Little did this selfish and politic prince think that by this permission he was preparing the way for a prodigious diminution of the regal power, and at length for the suspension of the monarchy itself. As little did his son imagine that the profligate and capricious measures he adopted would lead to the abolition of the mode of worship to which he was devoted, and to the admission of the opinions of the reformed church, which he hated. "The efforts of the Emperor Charles V. in the earlier part of his reign, to oppose the reformation in Germany, and at a later period of his life to suppress it in the Low Countries, produced an effect exactly opposite to what he intended; as did the more violent and cruelineasures of his son, the result of which was the dismemberment and emancipation of some of his most valuable provinces. "Our own times have witnessed instances of the same kind by no means less striking than those just mentioned; but on this delicate subject it would be improper to enlarge. On the whole, the inference which we must inevitably draw from some of the most important events recorded in the ample page of history, is, that the world is governed, not by the wisdom or the quill of man, but by the providence of God.” p. 16—20. On the subject of theology the author introduces the following remarks. "The usual division of this subject is into natural and revealed religion. I confess myself to be of the opinion of those who believe that, in the common acceptation of the phrase, there is properly no such thing as natural religion; that the crude ideas and superstitious practices of uncultivated nations are only the long accumulated and infinitely varied corruptions of some tradition nearly, it is probable, coeval with the world; and that the form of natural religion, which was so fashionable in this country in the beginning and towards the middle of the last century, is only a faint copy, a dim reflection of the light of revealed truth. Since the period just mentioned, the system of those who reject revelation has un dergone a considerable change; insomuch that few will now be found to take much interest, either in the general principle, or in the particular doctrines of the religion of nature. My present concern is, therefore, only with revealed religion, and that I may not altogether exhaust your patience, I shall confine myself to the subject of the Christian Revelation. I affirm then, without fear of being contradicted by any competent judge of the subject, that the historical evidences of the origin and first propagation of Christianity, are incontestable: they have never even been shaken by the most powerful and best directed attacks: the minutest scrutiny into the incidental facts connected with the story, (a kind of test peculiarly delicate and decisive) has only afforded additional confirmation of its truth, while the authenticity of its earliest records has been confirmed by a succession of testimonies far superior, both in number and weight, to what any other writings of equal age, or indeed of any age, can boast. "That Mr. Gibbon, who from his intimate acquaintance with history, has been justly thought to have perceived more clearly than the generality of unbelievers, the force of this argument, was proportionably impressed by it, appears from his original and elaborate attempt to set it aside. Ile, as is well known, has ascribed the rapid spread of Chris tianity to certain causes, which, though he calls them subordinate, he manifestly considers as the real and sole causes of the effect: the principal of these are, the zeal of the primitive converts, the strictness of their morals and discipline, and the doctrine of future rewards. But, as has been most justly observed, this eminent historian gives no account at all of the cause of the great zeal of the primitive Christians, of the strictness of their discipline, or how so many persons were induced to believe these flat't tering promises of future happiness, so as to live and die in the firm belief of it. Consequently, the great difficulty of the ready reception of the gospel, and the rapid spread of Christianity, without being supported by miracles, remains just as he found it, that is, wholly unaccounted 'for.' How far Mr. Gibbon has succeeded in his general attempt to discredit the evidences of Christianity, and in the particular arguments he hat adduced for that purpose, is a ques. tion which may be safely left to the decision of any competent and impartial person, who will take the trosble of comparing his operations on the subject with what has been said in reply to him by Dr. Watson in his Apology for Christianity, and by Dr. Priestley in his Letters to a philosophical unbeliever. "Should any one desire to know what some of the latest and most enterprizing infidels (particularly of the French nation) have attempted on this most untractable subject of the historical evidences of the Christian revelation; he may consult the writings of M. Volney, M. Dupuis, and M. Boulanger, in which he will find either an ignorance, or a perversion of the most commonly known facts that will astonish him, together with a degree of absurdity and intrepidity (if that be the proper word) far more characteristic of an unsettled and disordered mind, than of even the semblance of sound reason and argument." p. 49 -53, CXLIII. ORIGINAL POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS; particularly Am bra. From Lorenzo de Medici. Chiefy by SUSANNA WATTS, 8vo. THE contents of this collection The are-Ambra, from Lorenzo de Medici--Sonnet, from ditto-Sonnet, from Card. Bembo-Flight to Paris German Drama-Quadrille-A Forlorn Stranger-Pope's Prologue to Cato imitated-The Lark's Hyma Prologue for the Theatre, Botany Bay-Rhymes in praise of RhymeGeneral Prologue-Autumnal Scene Love Song-Provincial Prologue-Complaint of the Genius of Flowers Canzonette from Metastasio-Cantatas, ditto-Prologue. As the principal poem, Ambra, does not so well admit an extract, we present our readers with two or three of the shorter pieces. SONNET from Lorenzo. "Full oft my mind recalls, with tende: care, |