The compiler of this extract conceives that on comparing it with other school geographies, it will be found in no instance inferior to them, while in many instances it will possess a real superiority. He assigns his reasons for adopting this high opinion of his own work, in four pages of eulogium on the plan and execution; and concludes thus: of an abstract it is not necessary to say more, and truth does not require me to say less. Mr. Guy probably knows more of the contents of his book than any other person ever will, and he certainly entertains a much more favourable opinion of its merits. Out of respect to a Marlow Professor, we will endeavour to ascertain by a few specimens, the elegance and correctness with which it is composed, and the satisfactory manner in which its high pretensions are fulfilled.

Speaking of the climate of Lapland, the author says, the winters are intensely cold. 'Tis no unusual thing for their lips to be frozen to the cup in attempting to drink!' Again, Mountains. Lapland is a vast mass of mountains irregularly crowded together, separated however, in some interstices, with rivers and lakes forming delightful habitations !'➡ We hope he means, for fishes.

In Denmark, we are told, the air is so pure in some of the inland parts, that it has been said the inhabitants live so long as to be tired of life!!

From Mr. Guy's general description of Sweden,' we extract the following Population, Customs, &c. The Swedes are in general healthy, cheerful, complaisant, and courageous; they can endure hunger, cold, and poverty. The women here go to plough, thresh out the corn, row upon the water, serve the bricklayers, and carry burdens.' So much for the population of Sweden !

At page 23, our author alarms us with the information, that wild people are said to be sometimes seen in woods of Poland, going on all fours, and possessing nothing of human nature but the form.'

The religion established in England, Mr. Guy tells his readers, is ‹ Lutheranism! The government is thus succinctly and exactly described, The British government is monarchical, mixed with aristo-democratical; that is, the king is the head, and in his name all deeds are published, but his authority is restrained by the parliament. The nobility in the House of Lords gave the government partly an aristocratical, cast ; and the gentlemen in the House of Commons, who are all chosen by the people, add somewhat to the democratical form.’

Flanders, it should seem, is an integral part of the French Republic. And our author to shew his acquaintance with the astronomical part of geography, when speaking of Abyssinia, the greater part of which lies 10 degrees north of the equator, affirms that it has a vertical sun at the time of the year when the declination of that luminary is south!

We willingly leave to more accommodating consciences the task of recommending a work so defective in point of useful information, so incorrect in statement, so slovenly in language, and so frequently at war, as to its propositions, with the principles of scientific geography.

Art. X The Speculum, or Art of Drawing in Water Colours: and Instructions for Sketching from Nature; comprising the whole Process of a Water coloured Drawing, familiarly exemplified in drawing, shadowing, and tinting a complete Landscape in all its progressive Stages with Directions for compounding and using Colours, Indian Ink, Bistre, &c. By J. Hassell. 2nd Edition. 12mo. pp. 56. Price 5s Tegg. 1810.

MR. Hassell has, in this little manual, been guilty of the silly affectation of citing names and authorities, which he evidently knows nothing about, and which, if he did, have nothing to do with the subject. He quotes Zeuxis, Philostratus, Ovid, Martial, and Scipio Africanus! We would recommend him to erase all this from the next edition, as well as the very unnecessary and ridiculous addresses to his pupil. Mr. H. would also do well to select a more simple subject, and to elucidate its treatment more fully and distinctly. The list of colours has been drawn up for the benefit of the drawing master instead of that of the pupil; Mr. H. has enumerated about a score, when half a dozen were quite as many as can be used with effect in a common way. We are persuaded that the mode in which the colour boxes of the shops are made up, has been materially injurious to learners in their first attempts to colour; they are filled with different shades of red, blue, green, brown, and with a number of useless com pounds, while the original of each would have been amply, and far more effectuallys sufficient for the purchasers use.

Mr. H. has given two or three receipts for the neutral colour, but he has omitted that which we have always found to produce the richest effect and to stand the best, indigo and Indian red.

Art.

XII. The Christian's Consolation, or the Preciousness of Christ 'I to all who believe. pp. 179. 2s. bds. Baynes. 1809. THIS excellent little volume, reflects much credit on the anonymous author. He appears to have written it from the best motives; and so well, in general, does the execution comport with the design, and so consonant is the spirit which it breathes, to the genius of pure Christi anity, that we confidently hope he will not have published it in vain, In the event of a second edition, which we consider highly probable, there are some places in which the author will do well to revise his language.

Art. XIII. A New Defence of the Holy Roman Church against Heretics and Schismatics. By the Author of Hora Solitaria. 2nd Edition. 12mo. pp. 87. Price 38 6d Mathews and Leigh. 1810. MOST of our readers, we presume, have heard of this ingenious per

formance, the design of which is to ridicule the superstitious legends and erroneous tenets of the Holy Roman Church,' by grave and continued irony. The manner in which attempts of this kind are usually conducted, is by bringing forward the positions to be defended' in their most naked and defenceless condition, stating them with all possible soJemnity of manner, and maintaining them by the most absurd arguments that can be drawn together, yet with all the tenacity and angry earnestness of a serious disputant. A good deal of care, however, is necessary to

Discourses at the Ordination of Rev. T. Raffles.

855

preserve a constant composure of muscle; and with regard to the performance before us, the author, though in general exemplary in this respect, is sometimes, it must be confessed, betrayed into an unwary titter. To such of our readers as are unacquainted with the first edition of this work, (which we have reason to believe was a good deal disliked by the holy' communion, for whose use and benefit it was intended) the following specimen will not be unacceptable.

I ought not to pass over a small, though useful miracle, performed by Gregory the Great, who was once distressed for a horse to pursue his journey from Corinth to Constantinople, but was supplied by a gentleman. with a fine gentle creature, which had been appropriated to the use of his wife, and which Gregory was to send back upon reaching a certain place. The pope sent him back accordingly; but he might as well have kept him, for the horse (quodam instinctu vel intuitu) knowing his rider, and proud of the honour of supporting him, who had all power both in heaven and earth, could never afterwards be brought to debase himself, so as to carry the mean burden of a woman; upon which account, the husband, struck with the miracle, made a present of him outright to the Holy Father, in whose service he continued afterwards all the days of his life. The horse might really have become religious through bearing such a weight of holiness, and ought therefore to be canonized for a saint. And who knows, but, by his example and pious neighing, he might have produced a wonderful conversion among the horses? and, indeed, some of them betray a strong disposition to the act of kneeling, which circumstance ought to be inquired into I would not say, there was no miracle at the bottom. For, as all religion begins in humility, this prostration may arise from some inward motions of lowliness, and this (to us awkward) inclination of horses to be on their knees, may proceed from some serious reflections of the poor creatures; especially as those, who are most inclined to this apparent devotion, are commonly very dull and sober." pp. 23, 24.

Of the present edition, it is only necessary to say that it is printed with neatness and accuracy.

Art.

XIV. Discourses delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Thomas Raffles, over the congregational Church at Hammersmith, late under the pastoral care of the Rev. William Humphrys, on Thursday June 22, 1809. The Introductory Discourse by the Rev. John Humphreys of Union Street, Borough. The Charge, by the Rev. W. B. Collyer, D. D. of Peckham, and the Sermon to the People, by the Rev. R. Winter, D. D of New Court; together with a Confession of Faith, by Thomas Raffles, &c. Evo. pp. 96. Price 2s. 6d. Maxwell, Conder, Williams, &c. . 1809.

THOSE who are curious to know the mode of ordination to the ministry among dissenters, may from this pamphlet receive at once information and improvement. If they can tolerate the idea of a lay-deacon, and endure to hear him address an assembly of ecclesiastics, they will be pleased with the account which one of the interlocutors, in this multifarious service, gives of the election of Mr Raffles; and unless they are too much shocked with a bold avowal of the principles of dissent, they

will admire the indications of united piety and talents which the young pastor has given in his part of the service. His confession of faith, though not copious, is decisive; and impresses, rather by the judicious statement of his sentiments, than by a laboured accumulation of proofs. The longest discourse in the collection is the charge to the minister by Dr. Collyer; in which we were pleased to find language and sentiment so well suited to the solemnity, instead of rhetorical tinsel and puerile affectation. As to the justness of Dr. Collyer's opinions on the respective rights and privileges of dissenting ministers and deacons, or the consistency of his profession as a dissenter with those opinions or with the assumption of the term clergyman' (which he defends with some very humble learning), or the wisdom and meekness of his declaration, that he would not continue an hour with any people who should act contrary to his arrangements or independently of him, or who should even discover a di position to do so, we cannot presume to offer any remark. There need be no hesitation, however, in commending the sensible and affecționate sermon, which concludes the pamphlet.

Art. XV. Sacred Allegories; or allegorical Poems, illustrative of Subjects moral and divine; to which is added, an Anacreontic on the Discovery of Vaccination; with an Epilogue to the same; by the Rev. John Williams, M. A. Curate of Stroud. 12mo. pp. 150. Price 4s. 6d. Longman and Co., Williams. 1810.1

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O adorn the holy mysteries of our religion, with the attractive charms of poetry,' is the object of Mr. W. in this publication. There may be some doubt, perhaps, whether it was altogether wise to adopt, for this purpose, the conceits of the metaphysical poets, or the mythological fictions of the ancients to say of roses that this wears the justifying white, and that the atoning red;' or to represent the lawless Loves' as converting their quivers into celestial censers. The serious and devotional 'spirit, however, which pervades this little volume, is intitled to our commendation; and with many readers, we doubt not, its general rectitude of intention will be a sufficient apology, for occasional lapses of judgement and taste. Art. XVI. The Principle of the System of Education, in the Public Schools of England, as it respects Morality and Religion, favourably but impartially considered. Svo, pp. 80. price 2s. Hatchard.

1809.

Tis the aim of this writer to establish two propositions,

1st. that

as much is done in the study of Christianity as can be with safety in a public school; and that what is done, is sufficient. 2nd. that the study of the Pagan writers is not injurious to the interests of Christianity. In defence of these positions, the first of which appears to us utterly untenable, and the latter to admit of great dispute, he employs much fallacious reasoning, intermingled with several just observations on life. A proper answer to the work, including a full exposure of its, er. roneous principles and conclusions, would involve a discussion of the sub ject in general, and be obviously inconsistent, with the limits of a re view.

Art. XVII. Heroical Epistle from Death to Benjamin Moseley, M. D. on Vaccination, with a postscript on some collateral subjects. 4to. pp. 39. price 2s. 6d. Stockdale. 1810.

A

CONSIDERABLE share of satirical smartness is discoverable in this production, although it may be questioned whether the author has preserved much dramatic propriety of character in making the king of terrors' set up for a wit, and laugh, however justly, at the reviewers. The best lines of the poem, perhaps, are those which describe the burial of contagious corpses in a village churchyard."

How fear'd the rustics then! how quickly fled !
Save one, who, pious, linger'd with the dead,
Shut the swoll'n lips, the rigid eyelids clos'd,
In decent state the stiffened limbs compos'd;
Paid ev'ry rite, which human relics crave,
And found, himself, for his reward—a grave.

What cautious speed! what trembling dread were shown,
When, in that grave, each fest'ring corpse was thrown ;
Midst the dark stillness of the midnight hour,

Slow toll'd the knell, and shook the startled tow'r;
Barr'd was the church, the sexton urg'd his spade,
And delv'd more deep, by a pale lanthorn's aid,
That safe such pestful body might be laid.
The anxious pastor listen'd from afar

The jolts and gratings of the burial car,

And mark'd its progress, by the glimmering light,

Guiding its driver through the stormy night.

At length it came-a few attendant hinds,

With feet all-trembling, and all-troubled minds,

Bore their fear'd burthen from the church-yard's mound,

And instant sank it in the yawning ground.

Then rose the pray'r, in accent fast and low,

Yet every

hearer thought it rose too slow.

And now, the solemn benediction said,

Quick was the earth pil'd high above the dead."

There is also a spirited passage on the slave trade, concluding with a compliment to Mr. Wilberforce; and the catalogue of diseases towards the conclusion is not without merit.

Art. XVIII. The Important Journey from this World to the Next; considered in a Sermon, delivered at an Association at Bradford in Yorkshire, June 13, 1810. And published in Compliance with the Request of the Hearers. By John Fawcett, A. M. 12mo. pp. 32. price 6d. Button. 1810.

A PUBLIC address from this worthy and venerable minister, possesses much of the advantage attributed to the character of an orator by the ancient writers on eloquence. The text of this discourse is Joshua xxiii. 14; which suggests many serious and appropriate remarks on the subject of death, considered as a journey. It appears from an advertisement at the end, that the author is preparing a Devotional Family Bible, in 3 vols. 4to.

VOL. VI.

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