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Art. XIV. The Horrors of Negro Slavery; existing in our West Indian Islands, irrefragably demonstrated from Official Documents, recently presented to the House of Commons. pp. 36. price 1s. Hatchard.

1805:

HORRORS indeed! If it were possible for us to doubt of the necessity of abolishing this infernal traffic, the facts disclosed in the communications from Lord Seaforth, the Governor of Barbadoes, to Lord Hobart, would be fully sufficient to remove our hesitation. Horrible as is the following authentic and corroborated statement, we insert it, to enhance, if possible, the detestation in which the slave-trade, is held by multitudes of our countrymen.

'Howell, a butcher, living in St. Joseph's parish, is the wretch who murdered the slave for letting his wife out of confinement. The circumstances of this horrid barbarity are almost too shocking to be related. On discovering the poor creature had been instrumental to his wife's escape, he obliged her to put her tongue through a hole in the board, to which he fastened it on the opposite side with a fork, and leaving her in that situation for some time, he afterwards drew out her tongue by the roots. p. 11.

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The important assertion of Governor Prevost, in answer to the queries of Lord Camden, that the act of the legislature, (of Dominica) intituled, An Act for the Encouragement, Protection, and better Government of Slaves,' appears to have been considered, from the day it was passed until this hour, as a POLITICAL MEASURE to avert the interference of the mother country in the management of slaves,' affords a decisive proof that measures of palliation will ever be unavailing. A price is still put upon human blood! a Negro may still be murdered, at the rate of cleven pounds four shillings!

The concluding pages of this short, but able pamphlet, are devoted to a satisfactory refutation of the views and assertions contained in the Report of the Assembly of Jamaica.

Art. XV. The Secret History of the Court and Cabinet of Saint Cloud; in a series of Letters written in 1805. 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 1006. price 11. 1s. Murray, 1806.

WE have no hesitation in expressing our opinion that this is an attempt to indulge the curiosity of the public, at the expense of its credulity. The eagerness with which every thing is sought after, which pretends to disclose the private history of great actors on the theatre of human life, whether the object be Master Betty, or the Emperor Bonaparte, will always find hungry wits and indulgent booksellers, ready to afford its gratification. Many of the traits here given appear to be characteristically just; and most of the incidents have, doubtless, been derived

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from the lips of the grey-headed, but not toothless, gossip, common report: That the author was a witness of the scenes he pretends to describe from personal observation, he must pardon us if we doubt. Had this been the case, we should not have been so often affectedly denied the marrow of the secret, and presented with the bones. The hidden treasures, perhaps, are carefully locked up in the cabinet of the privileged nobleman, to whom these letters are said to have been addressed.

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Art. XVI. A concise Introduction to the Knowledge of the Globes; containing a selection of the most instructive Problems, with a variety of Examples and Questions for the Improvement of the Learner: besides a series of Exercises comprehending an Epitome of Modern Geography: designed for the Use of Schools and Private Teachers. Fourth Edition improved. By Thomas Molineux. 16mo. pp. 114. price 2s. 6d. bound. Lowndes, 1805.

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THIS little volume is well known to be a successful attempt, to simplify and facilitate the instruction of youth, in the use of the Globes; and it is better adapted to the purpose than any other that we have seen. In the present edition, a familiar introductory lecture is substituted, for the usual collection of technical terms; and an appendix is supplied, containing answers to more than three hundred questions, which are dispersed through the body of the work, and were printed in the former editions without a key to the solutions of them. The main part of this treatise, consists of problems to be worked on the Globes, of which there are twenty-five for the Terrestrial, and ten for the Celestial sphere. The subject of each problem, says the author, is proposed; a selection of appropriate definitions, or preliminary observations, to elucidate that subject; a rule for solving or working the problem, with examples for the learner; and lastly, a collection of Miscellaneous questions for examination,' are inserted. The brief geographical exercises are occasionally interspersed.

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In an introductory work of this nature, minute accuracy is not to be expected, nor, perhaps to be desired: but we have met with some instances, in which correction appears requisite. It is not necessary for a child to form a precise idea of the difference between the polar and the equatorial diameters of the earth, but we think he should be apprised that they are not perfectly equal. Daniel Defoe has too long been reproached for misconduct toward Alexander Selkirk; and as Mr. Clarke has effectually vindicated him from that charge in his Naufragia, Mr. M. will doubtless retract it in another edition. In the appendix, errors in printing the figures should have been carefully avoided; but the answer to the first question gives 10° too much, for the latitude of Rome. A few other trifling faults might be specified: but they will not prevent, the work from being exceedingly useful to a teacher, a parent, or even to an intelligent child, who may be desirous of learning the use of the globes, without personal tuition.

Art.

Art. XVII. The Temper of Jesus towards the Afflicted; a Sermon preached at Salem Chapel, Leeds; Feb. 24th. 1805; immediately before a Collection for the General Infirmary at Leeds. By Edward Parsons. price 1s. Williams, 1805.

TEXT.-Isaiah LXIII. 9.—In all their afflictions he was afflicted. THIS valuable Sermon, we trust, will be read with real pleasure and benefit by the serious Christian; and while he sees that character delineated which he ought to resemble, he will doubtless be stimulated to pity and alleviate the sufferings of his fellow-creatures. It pleads in an eloquent pious and forcible manner, the cause of humanity; and as well for the sake of this laudable institution as for the purposes of individual usefulness, we sincerely wish it may be extensively circulated.

Art. XVIII. An Address to Methodists, and to all others, who conscienciously secede from the Church of England. By the Rev. W. Cockburn, A. M. Fellow of St. John's, Cambridge, and Christian Advocate in that University. pp. 24. price Is. 6d. Hatchard,'

.1805.

THE truly Christian spirit with which this temperate address is offered to the attention of those for whose perusal it is professedly designed, certainly gives it a claim to an impartial and unprejudiced investigation. It is not our design here to enter into the correctness or fallacy of the author's arguments; these we leave for the reader's determination.But we strongly recommend it to notice, because it certainly invites to calm argument, and seems to aim at throwing down that wall of partition between Christians, which is sometimes raised and cemented by prejudice and party warmth. We could wish, however, that Mr. C. had taken better methods to inform himself of facts before he had assumed them as grounds of argument. He is certainly very wrong if he imagines that extempore preachers, or their hearers consider a fluency of utterance as a supernatural gift.

Art. XIX. The Lord Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount; with a course of Questions and Answers, explaining that valuable portion of Seripture, and intended chiefly for the Instruction of Young Persons. By the Rev. J. Eyton (of Wellington) 12mo. pp. 37. price 1s. Hatchard 1806.

THE only thing exceptionable that we have noticed in this very useful

little piece, is its title. We strongly object against suffering a name so dear and venerable in the eyes of a Christian, to be converted into the technical appellation of a book, and degraded by the common use of the careless and profane. We hope the worthy author will attend to this hint, in a subsequent edition, which, we doubt not, will be called for by the approbation of the public.

Mr. Eyton has divided this admirable discourse into nine sections or paragraphs, which he explains and distinguishes in some introductory observations.' After the sermon itself, from Matt. v. 3. to vii. 27., he

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has subjoined an 'Explanation of the Sermon:' in which the whole is analysed and illustrated, in a judicious and useful manner, by way of question and answer. Aided by this commentary, and, in some measure, by the methodical division, the young catechumen may acquire not only a correct idea of the discourse itself, but important instruction on many interesting points of doctrine and practice.

There is a material error in p. 34, Qu; 247., where the word narrow' is used instead of broad.

Art. XX. Fables Antient and Modern, adapted for the Use of Children, from three to eight years of age. By Edward Baldwin, Esquire. 2 vols 12mo. pp. 425. price 8s. Hodgkins, Hanway-Street, 1805.

THIS little work might with propriety have been intitled Ancient Fables modernized." The author introduces the various subjects in a familar style, adapted to the taste and capacity of his juvenile readers, elucidating it by explanatory remarks, and enlivening it by the relation of various incidental occurrences.

The plan is excellent, and had the execution been equal to the design, the author would have been entitled to unmixed applause.

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The original complexion of the fables appears too much altered; and sometimes a different moral is substituted; as in the case of the Old Man with his Bundle of Sticks;' where, instead of the obvious and very useful reflection, that union constitutes the strength and security of families, societies and nations, we are only taught the superiority of skill to force, and that the head is necessary to effect that which the hands alone could never have accomplished. At the end of The Daw with borrowed feathers,' we are led to suppose that birds take off their plumage every night when they go to bed!

The insertion of too much extraneous matter, and sometimes of needless explanation, especially in the narration, has frequently a tendency to weaken the effect; and the author, by his laudable anxiety to purify the morality of his fables, has often deprived them of point and interest.

The introduction to the fable of 'the Waggoner and Hercules,' would lead the uninformed reader to suppose that there was no knowledge of the true God to be found in the world, before the coming of Christ. This is not correct: the whole of the Old Testament, in which we have such a clear exhibition of the divine character and perfections, being published previous to that period. We wish not, however, in making these remarks, to deny the general merit of the work, which, upon the whole, we consider sufficient to recommend it to the attention of the public.

Many of the copperplate cuts, representing the various Subjects, are well designed and spiritedly executed.

Art.

Art. XXI. RETROSPECT OF FRENCH LITERATURE,
continued from page 239.

WHEN entering on the last of those epochs under which we proposed

to take a retrospective view of French literature, a reflection on the intimate relation and mutual dependance of literature and civilization, naturally and forcibly oceurs to the mind. A nation that is wholly unlettered, is necessarily, in a great measure, uncivilized and the progress which any nation makes in civilization, may usually be computed with accuracy, by the number, the variety, and the merits, of its publications in any given period. It is, indeed, to the promulgation of the Gospel, that Europe is principally indebted, for its present superiority over other divisions of the world: but it is to be considered, that Christianity not only lays the foundation of social order, by the purity of its principles and the efficacy of its motives, but effectually promotes the progress of literature to a certain degree; affords scope for its most useful application to an unlimited extent; and supplies the only restrictions, whereby it may be preserved froin subverting its own interests, and becoming a fatal poison, instead of a salutary medium of instruction and delight. Authors who attack evangelical religion, whether by open assault, by secret sap, or by treacherous collusion, are compassing the ruin both of civilization and literature; although they may design to promote their advanceThe declension of either, has scarcely in any instance been so striking, as in France, since the commencement of the late revolution : yet the writings which brought that convulsion to its crisis, were apparently intended to promote the illumination and perfection of mankind. Ignorant of religion, and prejudiced against it, the French philosophers regarded Christianity as inimical to social improvement; and were not aware, that in attempting to subvert the Gospel, they were fighting against the cause of eternal truth. Similar must ever be the result, when human reason exalts itself against divine revelation. Happily for us, the disastrous triumphs of infidelity in France, have tended to check, rather than to accelerate, its progress in England: but we cannot regard our literary or our civil prosperity as secure, till learning and eloquence become the zealous allies of Christianity. Indifference to its interests, and inconsistency with its principles, though less rapid in their operation, will be as ruinous, in their consequences, as the most resolute and persevering attack on its evidences or its doctrines.

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Civil discord has, in all countries, and all ages. been fatal to literature. It engrosses the attention, and enflames the passions, too powerfully to admit of the study and composition of treatises foreign to the spot, and the moment of contention. Hence, during the progress of the revolution in France, the press teemed only with political publications, and those on contemporary history. Of these, we proceed to give a more full and connected account than we have yet seen in print. We are conscious, however, that this might be made more complete, and would be improved by a correctly systematical arrangement: but we think it may be more interesting to our readers, if communicated just as we received it, a few months since, from a correspondent in Paris; whose language we literally translate, as it exhibits a view in which the subject is regarded by no small proportion of the inhabitants of France at the. present conjuncture.

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