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ART. 41. The Duties of Man. By W. Gilbank, M. A. Rector of St. Ethelburga, London; Reader and Afternoon Preacher at King-freet Chapel, St. James's, Weftminster, and Chaplain to his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucefter. 4to. 18. Robfon,

This difcourfe merits much commendation. From the datum of the existence of a God, the preacher urges the neceffity of relative obJigations in fociety, of living in dutiful fubjection to the laws, and of cultivating, in our different ftations, the no lefs important ties of focial union, It is plainly made to appear, that human happiness is not attached to riches, fplendor, or influence; but that it must arife from the difcharge of thofe claims in every ftation, the neglect of which invariably renders the vicious, the thoughtlefs, and the prodigal miferable.

ART. 42. A Nation reminded of its Tranfgreffions. By Robert Lewin, At Benn's Garden Chapel Liverpool. 8vo. 6d. Richardfon.

A plain, rational, and modeft difcourfe: from the fubftance of which we fee little or no reafon to diffent. The author, in the first divifion, points out our bleffings. in the fecond our faults, in the third our duties. The most fingular part is the fear expreffed of profanation in too frequently, or too lightly, finging God fave the King. The text is 2 Chron. xxviii. 10.

ART. 43. By George Burgefs. B. A. At Whittlesea St. Mary's, in the Ifle of Ely. 8vo. 6d. Evans,

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As far as page 15, a declamation against war, which is pronounced diabolical and ridiculous! Then four pages, more immediately referrible to the occafion." The author is evidently one of those who admire our conftitution for original qualities which it never had ; and would restore it to what it never was, nor ought to be. But he writes with caution.

ART.

T. 44. By the Rev. Thomas Waters, A.M. at St. Dunflan's in the Eaft, 4to. 6d. Rivingtons, &c.

I have not finned against thee, but thou doeft wrong to war against me." Judges xi. part of v. 27. From these words, the preacher takes occafion to fhow, that we are not the aggreffors in the prefent war with France. The following true ftatement of the political fituation of the minifter of this country is not attended to by thofe who accufe him as rushing into a war which he might have avoided:

"It is well known at how critical a period he took the helm of ftate, and to what imminent dangers it was expofed, till, fetting before himself two grand points, as the most eligible and effectual to give relief-namely, a reduction of the national debt, and an abolition of taxes, he bent its fails towards the haven of profperity.

"There cannot then be a plainer fact, than that his fyftem was Jaid on the probable bafis of a lafting peace; because war, by ob

ftructing

ftructing the operation of its principles, muft neceffarily deprive the public, for a time, of the various benefits, which his measures were calculated to produce."

It is ftrange, that fo plain a fact, as that war was, of all things, the most adverse to the views of the adminiftration, fhould have been overlooked by any who attend at all to matters of state policy.

ART. 45. By William Corfer, A.B. in the Parish Church of St. Leonard, in Bridgenorth. 4to, 1s. Gitten, Bridgenorth; Robinsons, London. The text of this fermon is one of thofe ftrong and striking paffages, in which the dignity of inspired writing puts to fhame the authorship of mere men:

"Behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabi tants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth alfo fhall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her flain.". Ifaiah xxvi. 21.

The Difcourfe upon these words is pertinent and well written. The French are confidered as more particularly under divine chaftisement, in which the other nations of Europe are, in fome degree, in volved.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ART. 46. Letters and Effays, Moral and Mifcellaneous. By Mary Hays. 8vo. Knott.

These letters and effays contain fome juft and important obfervations, conveyed with much fpirit: they bear the marks of a mind highly improved by that cultivation which the author very forcibly recommends to her fex; though it must be lamented, at the fame time, that they betray a ftrong tincture of the falfe and fuperficial philofophy of certain modern writers, with whofe works fhe appears to be too well acquainted; a little of that pride and affumption, which has been lately excited by the advocates for the rights of women, and by the peremptory and prefumptuous decifions of those who are not contented with the civil and religious liberty which prevails in this country. That the education of women in England is too much directed to frivolous, and, in fome cafes, pernicious objects, may perhaps, in part, be admitted; and that the female mind is capable of attaining a confiderable elevation of knowledge, many examples might be produced to prove. We cannot, however, forget, even when we admire the productions of this lady's improved understanding, that diffidence in decifion, particularly in important points, is a great ornament to the female character; and that the adoption of thofe novel and paradoxical fentiments, which have been generated in the fhallow reafonings of the prefent day, difplays no happy effect of a higher mode of inftruction.

Nor can we hefitate to fay, that Mrs. Woollftonecraft is a dangerous faint for any female votary to worship; and that to be a materialist, a neceffitarian, and to be fpinning webs of feeble reafoning on fuch fubjects as original fin, free-will, fore-knowledge, the origin of evil, &c. can neither make a woman valuable, nor amiable. The moral tales of the younger fifter deferve commendation, and had the elder confined her talents to fuch efflays, fhe alfo might have obtained it from us with less referve.

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ART. 47. Saggi fulla Gran Bretagna,Tomo Primo, contenendo un Ragguaglio Statifico dell' Impero Britannico, un Riftretto della fua Iftoria ed un Saggio fulla Costituzione Inglefe. Stampato a spefe dell' Autore J. Saftres, e trovafi vendibile da J. Robfon, R. Faulder, &c. &c. Lon

dra,

1793.

This undertaking, we are informed in the preface, was fuggefted to the author by refpectable perfons, in confidence that his long abode in England, and opportunities of inveftigating truth on the fpot, might enable him to produce a work useful to ftrangers. His intention, if encouraged, is to publish two other Volumes of Differtations on the Laws, on the Mode of adminiftering Juftice in the various Courts; on the Commerce, Manufacture, and Marine of England: but if he should, by unforeseen circumstances, be prevented, the prefent volume may be confidered as complete. A fmall and neat map of Great Britain is prefixed. The Introduction, which confifts of above 300 pages, contains a Geographico-political Defcription of the British Empire, with judicious Remarks on the advantages of fituation, and circumftances that have contributed to its Profperity; and Notes on the Soil, Climate, and Air; the Rivers, Productions, Population, Divifions, and Characters of of the People. The account is fketched with a fidelity which argues an intimate acquaintance with the fubject. The flattering defcription of the English character is not fo partial, but that the author finds fome fhades of felf-intereft intermingle with their patriotifm and their love. The accounts are enlivened with fome fprightly anecdotes. We are further furnished with an accurate and particular defcription of each country, of their refpective productions, and of many local circumftances. Of the principality of Wales, of Scotland, and of Ireland, and of the iflands adjacent to the coaft of Great Britain; with Alphabetical Indexes; which, though they complete the work, may, perhap, be confidered as redundant: we are afterwards prefented with a flight account of the British poffeffions in Europe, Africa, Afia, and America, and of the countries which have been recently difcovered and annexed to the British Empire. Much of the work is compiled, we prefume, from Guthrie and other writers; but it is judiciously arranged, and the reflections occafionally introduced, are fenfible, humane, and liberal.

The Second Part contains an Epitome of the History of Great Britain, divided into fix grand Epochas, compofed with general accuracy and impartiality, and well calculated to furnish Foreigner with a compendious view of our Hiftory, or to inftruct the student in Italian.

FOREIGN

FOREIGN

CATALOGUE.

FRANCE.

ART. 48. Voyage dans le defert de Sahara; par Follie, officier d'adminiftration dans les colonies. Paris, 1793.

MAN

ANY travellers have attempted to explore the interior parts of Africa, who have, however, found infurmountable obftacles to arreft their progrefs. Among thefe are to be reckoned hardships, of which it is exceedingly difficult to form an adequate idea; fuch as poverty, or rather famine (it being, in general, impoffible for the traveller to carry with him the means of fubfiftence), as Vaillant did, and flavery, which almoft inevitably terminates his other misfortunes. Shaw, to whom we are unqueftionably indebted for the beft defcription of the Levant, was unable to penetrate into the vaft deferts of Zaara, which form one of the countries of Barbary. The climate there is infupportably hot, and the inhabitants remarkable for the brutality of their manners, and their fhocking cruelty.

The voyage which we have now before us, was not undertaken from that infatiable defire to contribute to the improvement of fcience and the increase of ufeful information, to which we owe many fimilar attempts, the author having been charged, in quality of officer in the adminiftration of the colonies, to exercise his functions in Senegal. He embarked on the 19th December, 1783, on board the Deux Amis, commanded by Capt. Carfin. At first favourable winds feemed to promise an happy voyage, and it was not till the night between the first and second of January that the weather began to be ftormy; that union and concordkewife, which are fo neceffary in the management ofa veffel, no longer exifted in this. No accident, however, happened till the 17th, when the vessel struck on fome rocks. The captain, who had fancied himself near the coaft of Mogadore, found himself in the morning off the cape of Nun, at the distance of 60 leagues from that point, and of a quarter of a league only from the land.

The first part of this work gives an account of the reception our author and his companions met with from the Negroes, with the terrible and continual dangers to which he was expofed, till the time of his ranfom by fome French merchants refident at Mogadore, which are of fo extraordinary a nature as to give his narrative the air of a romance, from which, indeed, his ftyle itfelf is not altogether exempt. Among his numerous, and, for the moft part, judicious reflections, we are forry not to find one, which, in his fituation, it would have been natural for him to have made, namely, that the Whites act with the fame inhumanity to the Blacks; that they employ means at leaft equally unjuftifiable to get poffeffion of them, and that their conduct, on thefe occafions, is the more reprehenfible, in proportion to the greater degree of civilization to which they pretend.

Mr. Follie begins the fecond part of his work with an account of the manners of the inhabitants of Zaara, whofe origin he traces to the Arabs, Moors and Portuguefe, who took refuge there when the family of the Sherifs had feized upon the three kingdoms of Barbary. Having

then

then informed us, that they are fubdivided into, and known by the fes veral names of Mougeares, Trafarts, and Bracnarts, he confines his defcription chiefly to the firft.

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Their religion," fays he, " is a mixture of Mahometifm and other different fuperftitions, all religions, the Jewith only excepted, being tolerated by them. If, unfortunately, one of this profeffion fhould happen to be difcovered among them, which, on account of their different external appearance, frequently is the cafe, he is inftantly burnt alive." It is a very extraordinary circumftance, that they are, by their law, required to exercife hofpitality to all thofe persons who are not thrown on their coaft by fhipwreck, in its greateft extent.

The priests are charged with the inftruction of the hordes, and of the greater children, who teach the younger to read, tracing, on boards, in Arabic characters, certain maxims of the Coran. At the age of feven they are circumcifed, when their heads are likewife shaved, four fmall locks only being left, of which one is taken off for every remarkble action which the child performs. They are not confidered to have attained the state of manhood till none of these remain.

Though a plurality of wives is permitted them, it rarely happens that the fame man has more than one, and the married women are much more refpected by these people than by their neighbours, particularly if they have had the good fortune to produce one or more male children. Both the men and the women rub themfelves with grease, as a prefervative against vermin; in cafe of indifpofition, their principal remedies are diet and reft: they cure wounds, as our author himself experienced, by burning the part with plates of hot iron, and applying afterwards a mixture of tar and tortoife oil. In diforders of the eyes, they put on the eye a powder, made from the skin of certain ferpents, with a bandage of the fame. Their country is, in general, unimproved and defert, containing few trees, though interfperfed with beautiful plains, which, however, the inhabitants are too idle to cultivate. The fand forms itself into high mountains, which often change their fituation."

Our traveller next proceeds to the defcription of the nation of the Moffelemis, from which we fhall prefent our readers with the following extract:

“The religion of this people," fays he, "allows a general chief, for whom they entertain a degree of refpect approaching to adoration. This man, who has neither eftates, troops, nor titles, is, notwithstanding, the most powerful perfonage in all Africa: if he proclaims war against the emperor of Morocco, he is obeyed; the Moffelemis, inftead of acting on the defenfive, become aggreffors, and extend their ravages to the greatest distance in that empire: the war ceafes when he thinks fit. Without particular poffeffions, he has every thing at his command. Every family offers him its annual prefent, which it is folicitous to make as valuable and splendid as poflible. He difpenfes justice to the whole community: without the title of king, he is fo in effect. His power is founded on the love of the people, and on religion. Differing in his maxims, opinions and conduct from the emperor of Morocco, he does not confider himself to be infpired by the prophet; he is directed by the example of his ancestors, being perfuaded that any other mode of conduct would destroy his credit with his people. His dominion, or ra

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