the danger of yielding to the fuggeftions of vanity, and indulging capricious defires, and on the neceffity of counteracting their influence, by attending to the counfels of experience. The manner in which the innocent and inexperienced female mind is often enfnared, and the inestimable value of maternal difcretion and refolusion, in detecting craft and expofing treachery, are very fuccefsfully reprefented; a variety of juft and ufeful remarks are made on female character; and feveral pleafing pieces of original poetry are interfpersed. There are few young ladies, and even mothers, to whom the perufal of these volumes might not afford benefit as well as pleasure.

Art. 58. Sydney St. Aubyn. In a Series of Letters. By Mr. Robinfon, Author of Love Fragments, &c. 12mo. 2 Vols. 73. fewed. Herbert. 1794.

The story of this novel has the merit of being uncommon, without being unnatural. The author, without roving into the boundless regions of romance, finds means to amufe his readers with a domeftic tale, in which the principal characters are placed in fituations which have perhaps feldom occurred in real life, but which may eafily be conceived to occur, and fuffer extreme difappointment and distress merely through indifcretion, without any heinous criminality. The first love of a virtuous pair is interrupted by vanity and caprice; and new connections are formed, while the heart, on each fide, still retains in fecret its former attachment. Hence follow embarraffments and vexations which are well conceived and defcribed, and in which the reader fympathizes the more readily, as he finds more in the fufferers to pity than to blame. The tale is, on the whole, interesting; and it is told in a style which, if not to be admired for extraordinary elegance, is fuitable to the subject, eafy and fimple. A few grammatical negligences have escaped the author's attention; fuch as-I had chofe; come punctual to the time: I have ftole, &c.

Art. 59. The Offspring of Ruffell. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Lane.

1794:

The character of this novel may be expreffed in one word; it is romantic. The author opens his tale at the time of the memorable battle of Hexham, and brings his heroine from the field, to conduct her with her lover through many furprifing, and often improbable, adventures. The fentiments are frequently extravagant; the paffions are expreffed with a degree of vehemence beyond nature; and the ftyle, where it rifes above familiarity, is rather bloated than elegant. Nevertheless, the general effect is interefting; and the reader, who perufes the ftory with a difpofition to be amufed, will not lofe his labour.

Art. 60. Caroline Merton, founded on Facts. By a Lady. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. fewed. Richardson. 1794.

Thofe who eftimate a story by the quantity of love which it contains will be highly pleafed with this novel. Perhaps a greater number of lovers have feldom been brought together within fo narrow a compafs; and their loves, too, fo charmingly intertwined!'tis for all the world, Ma'am, like that tangled fkein of filk,

which is this moment trying your patience!" The bandsome and amiable Seymour adores the divine Caroline, while the gentle good bumoured Emily fecretly pines for him. The divine Caroline captivates the heart of Seymour's bofom-friend, who nobly facrifices friendship to love. The fafcinating, but unprincipled, Colonel Clayton takes a trip with the pretty Emma, a rich heiress, to Gretna, and returns to fall in love with Caroline, and to perfecute her with his criminal paffion. The modeft, fenfible, and well-educated Lawrence forms a tender attachment to the giddy and affected Marianne, who. fondly throws herself into the arms of the impudent Capt. Rainsford. What a delightful groupe of inamoratos; how enchanting the tale which twifts and untwifts their loves! So expeditiously too! all done in two small volumes; and room, after all, left for a pathetic tale of Amelia's forrows!-How much might the voluminous and circumftantial Richardfon have profited, had he enjoyed the benefit of such a wonderful example of literary dispatch!

Art. 61. Henry Stukely; or the Effects of Diffipation. By William Helme. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9s. fewed. Dangerfield. 1794. This novel is prefented to the public as a plain unvarnifhed tale;' and fuch, in truth, it is. Henry Stukely belongs to the inferior clafs of heroes. His boyish frolics, his juvenile amours, and his fubfequent adventures by fea and land, though perhaps fairly copied from life, are little adapted, either in the incidents themfelves, or in the manner in which they are related, to afford pleasure to readers of cultivated tafte. Though there is nothing in the performance offenfive to decency, there is certainly a degree of moral incongruity, totally inconfiftent with delicacy and refinement of manners, in making Stukely carry on a criminal connection with a prostitute, at the fame time that he profeffes a paffionate attachment to an innocent and amiable girl, to whom he has vowed eternal fidelity.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 62. The Gentleman's Stable Directory; or, Modern Syftem of Farriery. Vol. II. Containing experimental Remarks upon Breeding, Breaking, Shoeing, Stabling, Exercife, and Rowelling. To which are added, Particular Inftructions for the general Management of Hunters and Road Horfes; with concluding Obfervations upon the present State of the Turf. By William Taplin, Surgeon. 8vo. PP. 427. 6s. Boards. Robinfons.

The firft volume having, by the unprecedented rapidity of its circulation through ten large editions, and the acknowledged utility of its inftructions, in a great degree fuperfeded former opinions, and established the profeffional reputation of the writer; it will be hardly confidered a mark of prefumption, that (under the flattering influence of popularity) the fame pen fhould once more afpire to the hope of applaufe, in his defire to extend the fyftem of management to a degree of confiftency hitherto undescribed by any one of the numerous au thors, who have preceded us upon the fame or fimilar fubjects.

So far as HEALTH and CONDITION are preferable to disease, so much more defirable must PREVENTION ever prove to the neceffity

of cure. The purport of the prefent undertaking will, therefore, be 231 found appertaining much more to fuch parts of flabularian discipline, as come under the diftinction of NOVELTY, and not treated on in a direct way, than at all applicable to the investigation or cure of difeafe; unless in occafional allufions or medical references evidently branching from the fubject, and tending to corroborate and improve the intentional uniformity of the whole. It being the predominant with of the writer, to render this publication fuch kind of collateral appendage to THE STABLE DIRECTORY, as may constitute in bath, a complete chain of useful and entertaining inftru&tion for the improvement of the fpecies; their management in fickness or bealth, the field or fable, including, under diftinct heads, fuch facts from experience and inferences from nature, as will, the author is earnestly induced to hope, procure him the approbation of thofe, by the fanction of whofe extenfive patronage he has been already so very highly honoured.' INTRODUCTION. We need fay nothing more, in addition to the remarks which we made on the first volume of this work. See Rev. vol.lxxix. p. 88. Art. 63. Terraquea; or, A New Syftem of Geography and Modern Hiftory. By the Rev. James Gordon, Vicar of Barragh, in Ireland. Vol. II. 8vo. pp. 383. 5. 3d. Boards. Dublin. London, Dilly. 1793.

From the preface to this continuation, it appears that the notice taken in our 6th volume, New Series, of the former part of the work has been diffatisfactory to the author. We pointed out a paffage in Chambers's Dictionary relative to the Baobab-tree, which oppofes an affertion of Mr. Gordon: we have fince learned, from Adanfon's Journey into Senegal, that Mr. G.'s is the more juft ftatement. We alfo intimated a preference of Guthrie's book, which still appears to us more compreffed and convenient: but we are well aware that the rapid accumulation of geographical knowlege may enable our author, before the completion of his plan, to give accounts of many countries that will be very fuperior to thofe of Guthrie. Finally, our Atrictures were very fhort: which is inevitable at fome feafons when the prefs teems with productions, and forces us to incur great arrears with the public.

Of German literature Mr. G. thus fpeaks:

In works of fancy, wit, and humour, the Germans have had but Hittle fuccefs; a brilliancy of imagination, though doubtless to be found in fome individuals, being by no means prevalent in general among them. In dramatic writings they feem to have chiefly failed. Comedy appears not to be much their object, and tragedy, which oftener employs the pens of their writers, is commonly compofed in a bad taffe, the characters often unnatural, or extravagant, and the plots frequently bearing a tincture of barbarifm. The caufe of this failure is probably the want of encouragement; the French Janguage prevailing in all the courts, and French plays exhibited in preference to German. In hiftory the Germans difplay far lefs of animation than accuracy and method, and contribute little to the pleasure, but much to the information of their readers; their compofitions on this fubje&t confifting moftly of dry matter of fact, without thole pleafing reflections, and elegant defcriptions, which fo much

enliven

enliven the works of fome hiftorians, particularly the British. In general we may allow that where laborious investigation, fteady perfeverance, and cool judgment, are neceffary, the Germans are hardly furpaffed by any people; as in jurifprudence, and experimental philofophy, particularly chemistry, for the difcoveries and improvements in which the world is highly indebted to German industry.'

We shall repeat, in the words of our former article, that "the author's plan appears to be well executed ;" and that "his work is compiled from an extenfive reading of our modern voyagers and travellers."

Art. 64. An Addrefs, by Richard Worthington, M.D. to a difingenuous Writer for the Monthly Review. 8vo. 1s. Rivingtons. 1794. The great increase, which a few years have lately produced in the number of publications in this country, has obliged us to make a material alteration in our method of performing our duty to the public. Even in our account of works of principal importance, we are often neceffitated to be much lefs liberal of extracts than formerly; and with respect to inferior books, among which we must always rank fuch as treat on beaten topics without any novelty of argument or excellence of ftyle, we have found it impracticable to do more than barely offer, in a few words, a general opinion on the leading characters of each production. In this concife and, as it may be called, cenforial manner of criticizing, if we should fometimes be thought to affume an unbecoming tone of decifion, our apology is that we must otherwife be neceffitated either wholly to overlook many pieces which ought to be announced to the public, or to render many articles nothing more than a dull and uninteresting table of contents. If our larger articles, in which we ftate at fome length the grounds of our judgments on books, have not obtained for us fuch a degree of credit with the public, as to authorize us to give a general opinion on works which do not appear to us to merit, nor to require, a more particular examination, we have indeed laboured in the fields of literature, during more than forty years, to very little purpose.

The preceding remarks are not fo much intended as an answer to the Addrefs' now before us, as a juftification to the public of our conduct in having given what we judged a fair and impartial character of Dr. Worthington's fermons, without loading our pages with heavy quotations. On revifing the article, and comparing it with Dr. W.'s ftrictures, we cannot discover the smallest reason to retract our judgment, nor to foften the terms in which it is expreffed. To the charge of difingenuity we plead, Not guilty; and, for our acquittal, we confidently appeal from Dr. W.'s fentence to the eftablished laws of criticifm, and to the good-fenfe and candour of our readers. The orthodoxy of the publication (in the peculiar fenfe in which we ufed the term, as denoting the fyftem of belief commonly called orthodox,) was not fo much the object of our cenfure, as the contempt with which the writer treated polemical difcuffion, even in a fermon on one of the principal topics of polemical divinity ;—and,

See Rev. for October last, p. zzo.

not

notwithstanding all that Dr. W. fays, in this Addrefs, about appealing in a plain way to the declarations of Scripture only, we ftill maintain, without much fear of rational contradiction, that, on doctrines purely theological, the only road to the truth is that learned criticifm,' which investigates the genuine fignification of those paffages of Scripture, to which different theologians have annexed different meanings.

Art. 65. Reafons for quitting a Country Neighbourhood. In a Letter to a Friend. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Owen. 1795.

We fincerely with that the ingenious writer of this letter may experience, in another hemifphere, that quiet which he has not been able to find in his native country: but, at the fame time, we fear that he will be difappointed; for, though America be not difgraced by religious perfecution, its inhabitants are fubject to the infirmities of human nature, and like other men doubtlefs exhibit inftances of impertinent intrufion, detraction, contention, and frivolity. Political difcuffions are alfo to be found there as well as here, and are carried on with perhaps no lefs animation, not to fay acrimony. This appears very trikingly from the bitter reproaches cast by various defcriptions of Americans even on their favourite Washington and his government, on account of his endeavours to preferve neutrality in the prefent conteft among the European powers, and to avoid a rupture with Great Britain. Perfons who are in eafy circumftances, and not obliged to work for their livelihood, must have fome amufements; and perhaps card parties and fummer vifits to the fea coaft are as harm. lefs as any to fuch, the author probably will find, the wealthy Americans refort as well as the wealthy English; and the former, we may prefume, will occafionally display no lefs ardor in purfuit of pleasure than the latter: if this offend him, his fituation furely will not, in this refpect at least, be bettered by emigration. America has lawyers, too, as well as England; and we may venture to fuppofe, that a hatred of litigioufnefs is no part of the profeffional creed of thefe gentlemen in one hemifphere any more than in the other; they must farve in both, if men would agree to live without them, by either having no difputes, or fettling them by the arbitration of neighbours.

We lament, with the author, that his Rector, in other refpects a worthy man, should be fo intolerant as to withdraw his friendship from a parishioner of amiable character, merely because the latter could not stretch his religious faith as far as the former. Faith is not an act of volition; a man cannot make himself believe at pleasure, and therefore he ought not to be blamed for not doing what it is not in his own power to do. The perfon who does blame him on fuch an account, and breaks off a connexion with him, may be pious, may be learned, may be in general humane, but cannot be charitable, cannot be humble, cannot be just. There is perhaps nothing more difagreeable about intolerance, when it does not proceed to acts of downright perfecution, than its arrogant felf-fufficiency. An intolerant man neceffarily affumes a fuperiority over thofe who differ from him, the more infulting as it is unfupported by fair pretenfions. A minifter of the church of England pretends not to be an infallible guide, nay, he REV. FEB. 1795.

R

difclaims