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pathos; thelatter, indeed, we rarely expect in modern Epicureans. But the sentiments are worse than the composition; and we cannot but deeply feel for the young people who are trained up under such instructions, and who are taught to despise and to reject the most important principles of the Christian Religion.

Art. XI. Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem; A Seatonian PrizePoem; by Charles Peers, Esq. A. M. & F. S. A. of St John's College, Cambridge: 4to pp. 16. Price. 1s. 6d. Hatchard, Picadilly

1805.

IN N this poem Mr. Peers at once introduces the Redeemer of the world, pathetically lamenting the impending fate of 'his Father's city, which he views from his favourite haunt, the Mount of Olives. This long soliloquy would have been more in character and more interesting, had it not dwelt solely on the awfully dark side of the picture; had it exhibited the happy contrast of the restoration of the Jews, and of that truly golden age, when righteousness and peace shall cover the earth, and when the nations shall learn war no more. A few rays of hope, at least, should have brightened the prophetic gloom.

The following may serve as a sample of the poem.
- Be it then fulfill'd

The consummation! pass a few short years,
The day shall come, to whose event compar'd
Whate'er in worst extremity of war,
Famine, or pestilence hath been sustain'd,
Were lightest visitation; when the foe

Shall cast his trenches up, and hem thee round
In closest straits beleaguered; all the while
Intestine discord raging, fiercer far
Than the besieger's fury:-Happy then
The barren woman! happy, not to know
The pang of anguish which a parent feels,
To hear the wailings of her intant, parch'd
With quenchless thirst, and hunger unappeas'd.
Woe to the city! when with raving eye
Each on his fellow glares !-the lion tribe,
Prowling the desert, spare their shaggy kind,
Though stung with famine and athirst for blood:
But oh! more moustrous strange and pitiless.
The daughter of my people !-it shall bleed
Slain by her hand, the sucking babe shall bleed
To slake a mother's cravings :-this fulfill'd,
This cup of bitterness, the foe shall make
His final onset, and the yawning breach,
Clos'd up with dead, a last sad entrance yield.
No more those warrior angels shall descend,
Who in bright armour wont in days of yore

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To wield auxiliar thunders; side by side

With Joshua fought; or smote th' Assyrian camp,
And sent the great blasphemer baffled home:
No arm shall be uprais'd, no spirit stand
For Israel; she shall perish, unrepriev'd,
This ancient city, all her reliques proud

Shall glut the fury of devouring fire. pp. 7, 8.

After a descriptive pause by the writer, the Messiah again soliloquises on the subject; and the poet very properly concludes, by shewing us, that his awful predictions have been fulfilled. The versification is often vigorous, but perhaps never energetic; the cadences are well varied and modulated, though they cannot strictly be called harmonious. The whole poem is in great want of the mens divinior; the thoughts are just, rather than poetical, and the language is prosaic, though usually correct. Nevertheless, while there is but little to commend, there is nothing of importance to censure.

Art. XII. An. Essay on the Internal Evidence of the Religion of Moses. Published in pursuance of the Will of the late Mr. Norris; as having gained the Annual Prize instituted by him in the University of Cambridge. By Thomas Broadley, M. A. of Trinity College. 8vo. pp. 68. Price 2s. Cadell and Davies. 1805.

WERE the life of man sufficient for the task, it would be a curious, and perhaps a very useful experiment, to compare, by way of harmony, the innumerable tracts that have appeared in favour of revelation, from the venerable folio that embraces the whole scheme of man's redemption, to the modest pamphlet that lends its aid to the support of some particular and detached part of this glorious structure. It would be curious to see how the mass of evidence, that at present baffles infidelity, progressively arose; and how different writers, with different powers, and different sources of information, struck out new light and new modes of argumentation, or trod in the footsteps of their predecessors. And it would certainly be useful, both to such an examiner himself, and to mankind, could the scattered rays be brought to such a focus, that inquiry might rest satisfied, and the truth of Divine Revelation present itself to every eye

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Full orb'd in its whole round of rays complete.'

With due deference to the respectable professor (Fawcett) who proposed the subject, we think the present too unwieldy and comprehensive for the limited pages of a prize essay. Nevertheless it is arrayed as pleasingly in modest novelty, as we could

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possibly expect. We remember, however, in former years, to have seen the whole Internal' and' External Evidences of Christianity,' proposed, and were not disappointed to find the successful essay a mere catalogue of heads of mangled commonplace argument. How much better would it be to select some detached work of Revelation to be defended, or some objection to be combated, where the space required for erecting the battery, were less extensive; and where we might find some novelty of polemic defence of some kind or other. This has, indeed, been done occasionally; why not always?

Mr. Broadley commences with his proofs of the genuineness of the writings of Moses; and, perhaps unnecessarily, quotes Bishop Watson for the definition of genuine and authentic. We meet with nothing new here. He then proposes his subject, "What internal marks do these writings possess, by which their truth or falshood can be ascertained?" And he properly shews, that Moses could be no impostor, in his assuming the power of working miracles, because he by no means makes choice of those instances of a miraculous commission, which could possibly be done in a corner. But, on the contrary, appeals to the face of day, and to 600,000 of his countrymen, whom he led through the wilderness, for the truth of every miracle he performed.

For the people knew whether they did hear a voice from the midst of the fire they could not but know, during their residence in Egypt, whether the waters of the Nile were turned into blood; whether a murrain destroyed all the cattle; whether there were boils and blains on man and beast; whether there were hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so that the "fire ran along upon the ground;" whether the locusts destroyed what the hail had left; whether there was darkness for three days in the land; whether "the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the cattle ;" and whether the land of Goshen was alone preserved untouched by surrounding calamities;-its inhabitants, as it were, immortal, amidst almost all the ills which could befal mortality. Could they walk through the sea on dry ground, and be unconscious of the fact -that sea, in whose returning waters they saw the armies of Pharaoh overwhelmed? Did they not taste of the waters of Marah? did they not eat food from heaven? did they not behold streams of water suddenly gush forth from a hard rock? Did they not see the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day?' pp. 11, 12.

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Mr. B. next proves, that as a prophet too he was not an impostor. Because he did not predict such events as could flatter the people; nor did he foretel things likely to come to pass, or "the most natural effects of the most obvious causes."

Neither in the ceremonies and precepts he instituted, did he flatter national vanity, or the natural depravityand ruling passions

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of individuals. What denunciations, on the contrary, against their darling sin of idolatry! What expensive rites! What fatiguing marches, and war, through the wilderness amidst famine, pestilence, and death! Now, had they not been well convinced of a divine commission given to their leader, they never would have suffered all this. They did indeed say, that he took too much upon him, with his brother Aaron, but they did not dispute that authority from God which he constantly assumed.

The reasons are next assigned, why the Almighty saw fit to select some nation or people, to preserve the One True God in a lost and idolatrous world. And the question is answered very satisfactorily," Why, though Moses had no intention to deceive, night he not be deceived himself?"

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The internal marks of truth, in the moral doctrines of Moses, are next considered in particular, his inculcating the worship of one God, in opposition to the wild and unhallowed systems of paganism. The sublime morality in the decalogue, which neither time nor circumstances have been able to invalidate,' is contended to be founded on the fixed and immutable principles of right and wrong; and to be a system, which human reason, unaided by inspiration, could never have produced.

Though we regret, as every reader must do, the want of something by way of argument, or summary of contents, to assist the imemory, and gratify us with the beauty of close order and method, yet we think the above is a fair analysis of this essay. The author's mode of treating his subject, considering how often the ground has been travelled, is not destitute either of solid or novel reasoning. We give no unfavourable specimen of both;

Now no sagacious monarch, no able general, who would wish to attach to himself the respect and esteem of his adherents, would ever expose his imperfections to the inquiring eye of a fickle multitude. It is for him to remove to a distance from them; only to be seen, when seen to be admired; only to be heard, when he is heard with rapture; and then only to act, when something worthy of a king, or of one doomed to direct the destinies of a nation, is to be done. The majesty and brilliancy of his character are only to be beheld by vulgar eyes, and that but rarely; for, even then, repetition cloys: besides, what is often seen cannot long conceal its defects, and from imperfection once discovered, respect will vanish. But Moses is continually with the people. They observe him in the field, and in the tent; in public, and in private; he affects no empty display' of virtues and talents which do not belong to him, but publicly proclaims his own offence against God, and the mortifying punishment consequent upon it. He repines not, he attempts no palliation of that offence to the people; yet the people do not forsake him, his authority over them suffers no diminution." p. 40, 41.

When, however, in the midst of argumentative sober research

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concerning the genuineness of the Pentateuch, he quotes Milton, on Man's first disobedience,' &c. and, out of season, snatches an opportunity to tell us, how he likes the luminous sentences, and flowery periods of Burke,' we think he degrades the solid by the frothy, and speaks to our feelings and imagination, when he should be convincing our reason. The following passage also is very faulty in this respect:

The sons of Britain may, in after times, be justly proud that the language of Burke was their native tongue; and the names of Newton, of Bacon, and of Locke, 'compatriot with their own:' they may be expected to preserve, with reverential care, their laurels from the blast of calumny, which would wither and destroy them: they will as far as in them lies, never suffer them to be torn from those brows they so justly adoru.'

Upon the whole, we think this little essay no contemptible evidence for the Divine Origin of the Jewish religion, and certainly superior to many academic efforts on similar occasions. The writer seems a freshman at the bar of criticism, but we do not despair of his graduating with no dishonour to himself, or to his alma mater.

Art. XIII. The Greek-English derivative Dictionary, showing in English Characters, the Greek Originals of such Words, in the English Language, as are derived from the Greek: and comprising correct Explanations from the most approved Lexicographers, of the Meaning of each Word. By William Burke. pp. 240. 12mo. Price 4s. 6d. Johnson. 1806.

WE E are not disposed to deny, that a work of this nature has been long wanted; or that Mr. Burke's plan is, on the whole, judicious. Unfortunately, the execution by no means corresponds with the goodness of the design. We shall not cavil about dubious etymologies in general, nor about the author's neglect of conformity and analogy, in the derivations he proposes; but proceed directly to notice several faults, which materially detract from the merit of the work.

The first blemish that struck us, was the introduction of such words as the following: acarpy, barrenness; elench, argument; lychnobite, one that turns the day into night! (properly, who lives by candle light) parergy, something done by the bye; evangely, the gospel; arpagus, a child that dies in the cradle! (we cannot account for this egregious absurdity ;) kenodoxy, vain glory; pseudodox, false glory, &c. &c. These, we take upon us to say, are not English, nor Greek, nor anything else, but equally illegitimate and ugly. While the author has admitted these aliens to the rank of English words, he has shame.

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