and cover fo large a field of hiftorical inquiry. We know that ingenuity and industry, when properly ftimulated, can perform wonders but, we own, we are furprized that, without taking any direct notice of the elaborate inveftigation which has lately been bestowed on the fubject by Mr. Porfon, in his letters to Mr. Travis, published in 1790*, it fhould be as confidently maintained, as if no fuch inveftigation had ever taken place, that the verfe in queftion feems beyond all degree of ferious doubt to have flood in the Epiftles when it originally proceeded from the pen of St. John.' It is not the addition of an elaborate difquifition to prove that R. Stephens, in fettling the text of the New Testament, was in poffeffion of MSS. which contain the difputed verse, nor any other additions that we find in this improved. edition of the Letters, which will obviate the objections to the authenticity of this text, drawn from the circumstances that it is not quoted by the early Chriftian fathers when exprefsly treating on the fubject of the divinity of Christ, and that it is not found in any, or at most not in more than one or two, of the Greek MSS. of the fcriptures which are now extant. We do not mean, however, to renew the debate on a fubject already fo thoroughly exhaufted.

Art. 41. Antichrift in the French Convention; or, an Endeavour to prove that fome Part of the Prophecies of Daniel and St. John is now fulfilling in Europe. Addreffed to all Mankind who believe in the Old Teftament. To the Jew as well as the Chriftian. 8vo. is. Cadell and Davies. 1795.

The vifions of Daniel, and the myfteries contained in St. John's Revelations, feem to have furnished an inexhauftible fund of employment for those learned adepts in myftic obfcurity, who know how to apply the fymbolic horns, vials, beafts, &c. &c. to the moft remarkable perfons and events of ages paft, prefent, and future, in all quarters of the habitable globe. Yet it is the misfortune of these pious and skilful interpreters to be as little regarded by their contemporaries, as were their precurfors, the good prophets of old. Thus we find the author of the prefent expofition complaining, in his preface, that

In fearching for the grounds of Mr. FLEMING'S conjectures refpecting the downfall of the French monarchy, and the pouring out the fifth vial upon the feat of the beaft, he has been forcibly ftruck by the ftrong refemblance which the events foretold by Daniel and St. John bear to the tranfactions of the prefent times. He has attempted, more than once, to excite an inquiry, among learned men, into the fubject, as he wished it to have been taken up by a more able hand; but the fubject is obfolete; his hints in the Papers have been unnoticed, and the learned world turns a deaf ear to fuch opinions: yet thofe opinions, if right, are of the greateft confequence; if erroneous, let them be confuted.'

The author modeftly adds, however, that his utmost pretenfions are, that thofe opinions only carry with them evident marks of probability: yet even this probability may not feem very clear to those who are unable to trace (with the prefent expofitor,) the civic cards and

* See Rev, N. S. vol. v. p. 42.

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national

national cockades of the French, with their affignats, and their telegraphs, in the vifions of DANIEL OF JOHN.

Art. 42. A Course of Prayer, for each Day in the Wetk, fuitable to every Chriftian Family. Printed from the Manufcripts of the late Rev. Auguftus Toplady, Vicar of Broad Hembury, Devon. 8vo. pp. 34. Parfons. 1794.

In thefe days of herefy, we very much queftion whether a Course of Prayer, drawn up by a man fo found in the faith as Mr. Toplady, can be, as the title of this Courfe of Prayer promifes, fuitable to every Chriftian family. It will, however, doubtless prove very acceptable to that clafs of Chriftians who eftimate the value of all theological productions by what is termed their orthodoxy.

MEDICAL, CHEMICAL, &c.

8vo.

Art. 43. A Treatife on the Hydrocele, on Sarcocele or Cancer, and other Dijeafes of the Teftes. By Benjamin Bell, F. R. S. &c. &c. pp. 295. 4s, Boards. Edinburgh, printed.-Robinsons, London. 1794.

This volume is chiefly a republication of the obfervations refpecting thefe difeafes contained in the author's Syftem of Surgery. He was induced to print it in this form, by the request of feveral perfons who wifhed to have this part feparately; and also because he had fome additional remarks to introduce relative to the methods of curing the hydrocele, and the operation for the farcocele..

Some late attempts to encourage the practice of injection, for the radical cure of the hydrocele, lead Mr. Bell to give a brief history of the origin and progrefs of this mode, and to compare it with the others employed for the fame purpofe. He raifes various objections to it: but the confideration, which principally feems to weigh with him, is the fafety and efficacy which he has always experienced in the cure by incifion; a method obviously more certain than any of the others, if not objectionable on account of pain and danger. The improved manner of performing it, which he defcribes very minutely, is not in any important refpect different from the practice of skilful furgeons in general: but the mode of dreffing which he recommends has fome peculiarities that may contribute to the fuccefs :-for particulars we muff refer to the book. In the writer's practice, the disease has not returned in a fingle inftance; nor has one patient died, nor even been in danger, in 165 cafes in which he has operated by incision.

As to the operation of removing the difeafed part in a farcocele, the directions given are accurate and judicious, but, as far as we obferve, contain little that is new. The fpermatic chord is secured at the be'ginning of the operation by a ligature paffed round it; which, after having taken up the divided ends of the artery and vein separate from the nerve, is untied again, and left in, like a tourniquet, till all danger of hemorrhage is paft.

Art. 44. Defcription of a Pneumatic Apparatus; with Directions for procuring the Factitious Airs. By James Watt, Engineer, Birmingham. The Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 49. 25. Baldwin.

3795.

In our Review for January, we announced the first appearance of this pamphlet, in a joint publication of the author and Dr. Beddoes. Some improvements in the apparatus, and in the manner of employing it, having fince fuggefted themselves, Mr. W. has very properly made the whole the fubject of a feparate publication, in which he has confined himself to defcription and directions, omitting the fpeculative matter contained in some of his letters to Dr. B.

Art. 45. A bort Account of the Nature and Properties of different Kinds of Airs, fo far as relates to their Medicinal Ufe; intended as an Introduction to the Pneumatic Method of treating Difeafes: with. mifcellaneous Obfervations on certain Remedies used in Confumptions. By Richard Pearson, M.D. Phyfician to the General Hofpital, Birmingham. 8vo. pp. 27. is. Baldwin. 1795.

This is a neat general account of the different kinds of airs which have lately been propofed for trial in various diseases, with the grounds. on which good effects have been expected from each. The author justly calls himself at prefent little more, than an expofitor, but he hopes that hereafter he may contribute to augment the ftock of obfervations on the subject. In the few concluding remarks on the remedies used in confumptions, the circumftance chiefly worthy of notice is the falutary exhibition of the vapour of æther but Dr. Pearson announces his intention of giving a more particular relation of this practice.

HORTICULTURE.

Art. 46. A Treatise on the Culture of the Cucumber: Shewing a new and advantageous Method of cultivating that Plant, with full Directions for the Management thereof, and the Degree of Heat it requires on every Day of the Year; and a Meteorological Journal of the Weather and Temperature of the Climate in Lat. 51° 20′ North, Long. 0° 1' East, of London. To which are added, Hints and Obfervations on the Improvement of Agriculture. By James McPhail, Gardener to Lord Hawkefbury, &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 528. 8s. Boards. Cadell. 1794.

It will no doubt furprise many perfons to fee a large volume in octavo, for the purpose of explaining and amending the culture of the cucumber. Be it known, however, that but a small portion of this book is appropriated to inftructions immediately respecting the culture of the cucumber; which, as any one may conceive, might be compreffed within a very few pages. The appropriation of the volume is as follows;-fixteen pages of advertisement, fixteen of preface, forty-two on the culture of the cucumber, and two hundred and twenty-four on the management of cucumber plants,- (being a meteorological journal of the weather, with the coverings and liftings of the frames, and with the heat of the foil, of the air within the frames, and of the open air; registered feven or eight times in a day, from October 1792 to January 1794;) and two hundred and fourteen pages of hints and obfervations on agriculture.

Mr. McPhail is evidently an ingenious gardener, and his newly in vented cucumber frame does him much credit: it might be ftyled an elegant invention. Inftead of the vulgar dung-bed, which is gene

rally

rally in ufe, (and through the means of which, by the way, every carter and ploughboy, in many parts of the kingdom, produces what fome would call very good cucumbers,) Mr. M.P. makes his bed of vegetable mould, within a brick frame; communicating heat to this bed by the fteam of fermenting dung, placed round the frame, in a very ingenious manner.

The journal fhews great attention and perfeverance on the part of the author: but we think that its publication, at large, was not requifite to the illuftration of Mr. McPhail's method of cultivation.

As to the hints and obfervations on agriculture, we need only to fay that they will not bear the teft of a deliberate perufal, by men who are converfant with the subject. Whether they arise from reading or from practice, they are crude and unfatisfactory. Mr. M'P. has the pen of a ready writer, and he is not fcrupulously nice about fticking to his text. His deviations are many and wide; ftraying into the mazes of religion and politics, with an unguardedness which, especially in the prefent intemperate times, may procure for him more enemies than friends."

We have formed a very good opinion of Mr. McPhail's abilities as a writer on gardening, (on which fubject he gives us to underftand he has much manufcript matter,) and we would advife him to leave agriculture and politics to others.

Nevertheless, viewing the production before us, with the various fentiments which it contains, as emanating from the ideas of a man who, not many years ago, was a farmer's fervant (as he informs us,) in the Highlands of Scotland, we deem it a curiofity. His reading has evidently been extensive, and his memory, we conclude, is retentive. Thefe circumstances ferve to account for his fluency of language; which, however, as may well be conceived, frequently wants correctness.

MILITARY.

Art. 47. An Hiftorical Account of the British Regiments employed fince the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the Formation and Defence of the Dutch Republic; particularly of the Scotch Brigade, 8vo. 35. fewed. Kay, &c. 1795.

A very entertaining and informing history of a diftinguished military corps, raised in our own ifland, but maintained in the fervice of foreign powers allied with this nation. It is impoffible for us, as Britons, to perufe this work without feeling ourselves strongly interefted in the fate of this body of brave men; and we should have lamented for them had they been fuffered to crumble into non-existence. It therefore gives us pleafure to find that his Majefty has been pleased to order the revival of a corps which has maintained its honour on the Continent for not lefs than two hundred years. The great Montecuculi confiders, as this hiftorian remarks, a permanent body of troops as a kind of Immortal Being; as it affimilates to itself the nourishment it receives, and remains always the fame.' May this obfervation be verified in regard to the Scotch Brigade! especially as, if we mistake not, it is intended to be hereafter employed in our own proper fervice. A famous Generaliffimo of the Imperial armies in the time of Louis XIV.

Art.

Art. 48. Letters on the Subject of the Armed Yeomanry, addreffed to the Right Hon. Earl Gower Sutherland, Col. of the Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry. By Francis Percival Eliot, Major in the above Corps. 8vo. 6d. Longman. 1794.

This tract (printed at the defire of the committee of Subfcribers to ahe Internal Defence of the County,) appears to be the work of an experienced and fkilful officer, and is written with accuracy and spirit. It details the whole difcipline of the volunteer cavalry; a corps compofed entirely of gentlemen and yeomen, exhibiting what may be termed a kind of non-defcript fpecies of foldiery: a body of men, who feeling themselves independent as individuals, have voluntarily stepped forth in defence of a conftitution which the experience of ages has proved perfectly competent to the preservation of that independence, which it is their pride and happiness to enjɔ̃y.'

To the above-mentioned letter is added Letter II. on the Utility and Expediency of the Volunteer Establishment ;"in which the ingenious writer expatiates, (in a style fomewhat declamatory,) on the excellence and wisdom of a measure, by which alone,' as he apprehends, the internal peace of this country can, in the prefent ftate of European politics, be for a moment enfured.' While, however, we are thus neceffarily bufied in "beating our plowfhares into fwords, and our pruninghooks into fpears," let us devoutly hope and pray that there may never be occafion for our making any fanguinary use of the weapons. PHILOSOPHY.

Art. 49. The Meteorologist's Affiftant in keeping a Diary of the Weather; or Atmospherical Regifter of the State of the Barometer, Thermometer, Hygrometer, and Wind, at three Periods in every Day; and, the Quantity of Rain, &c. falling each Day. Folio. Tables. Is. 6d. Baldwin. 1793.

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The nature of this publication is fufficiently explained in the titlepage. The blank tables, of which it principally confifts, are conveniently conftructed for their purpose, and may usefully be employed by those who are defirous of faving themselves a little trouble.

POETRY and DRAMATIC.

Art. 50. The Wedding Day, a Comedy in two Acts. As performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane. By Mrs. Inchbald. 8vo. 15. Robinsons. 1794.

Whatever fault rigid criticism may detect in the plot of this little piece, as exhibiting incidents which verge on improbability, it is compenfated by the eafe and vivacity of the dialogue, and the ftrongly marked diftinctness of the characters. The whimsical oddity of Sir Adam Contest is well contrived to raise a laugh; and Lady Contest has peculiar features of gay fimplicity, which do credit to the invenfive talents of Mrs. Inchbald.

Art. 51. The Coffee Houfe; a characteriflic Poem. 4to. Is. 6d. Robinfons. 1795.

We have feen various imitations of Philips's Splendid Shilling; with the ftyle of which the author of this poem feems to have cultivated fome acquaintance: but the folemn burlefque keeps aloof. Here is more of fatire than of drollery :-though the writer difavows all perfenal defign.

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Art.