ART. XVIII. A Letter to a Foreign Nobleman, on the present Situation of France, with Refpect to the other States of Europe. By F. P. Pictet, Citizen of Geneva. 8vo. 102 pages. 2s. 6d. Hookham, &c.

THIS publication has appeared both in French and English,

of which editions, as the author is a Genevan, the French is probably the original. The name of l'ictet is well known in Europe, by the talents of M. Mark Aug. Pictet, a learned profeffor of Geneva, whofe productions enrich our Philofophi cal Transactions, the Journal de Phyfique, &c. The prefent writer dates from Reading, and fpeaks of himself as in years: his relationship to the profeffor we do not know. His Letter is a fenfible and difpaffionate composition, and does honour to the abilities, as well as the feelings, of the writer. It is not fo ftrictly methodical, in its arrangement, as to admit of a very exact analysis; but, taking a general view of the whole, we may confider it as confifting of three parts:-1. A ftatement of the evil which has for fome time threatened Europe with fome notice of its causes, to p. 10. 2. Advice concerning the belt mode of checking that evil, to p. 59.3. Plan of a work to refute fundamentally the principles of French anarchy; to the end. We learn, from the first part, that feveral Genevese exiles, of whom Claviere was one, have borne a confiderable part in the French revolution. In the fecond, we find the author ftrongly against attempting to do more than to fhut up the French within their own territories. In the third part, we meet with many very found ideas on the general doctrines of law: and among them this, which deferves to be extracted:

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"The pofitive is, therefore, intended to fupply the natural law; which, impelled by his wants, and tranfported by his paffions, man would be apt so often to neglect. It fhould, therefore, never prefcribe, never forbid, any thing, but what the natural ural law, if at any time enforced, would have prefcribed or forbidden; and of all the fyftems of legiflation, that alone would be perfect, which, applied to every cafe, would deliver the fame rule which heavenly wisdom, if it addreffed itself to men, would have delivered; a rule founded on the unchangeable nature of things, and the mutual relation in which we ftand to one another." P.71.

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It is confeed that fo perfect a fyftem never can exift; but this is the model to be propofed; "Government being infti"tuted with no other view than to compel men to observe the "unalterable rules of justice and equity." This is plain reaLon; and, doubtlefs, the time will come, when it will be

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thought no lefs ridiculous ever to have propofed the will of a multitude, as fuch, for a rule of right, than to have maintained the most extravagant notions of divine right line individuals.

The picture of that clafs of inferior and prostituted authors, which has been fo mifchievous in France, by producing the Gorfas, the Marats, and numberlefs other wretches, whofe pens have been nearly as pernicious as their daggers, is well drawn; in p. 42, et feqq.

As this is rather a novel fubject to English readers, we shall extract a part of what Mr. Pictet says upon it:

"Hence it follows, that if we except a few, who by the force of fuperior genius, and formed by the hand of nature, have raised and perfected their own education, we may see a multitude of men of the lowest class, and of inferior abilities, pufhing themselves every were into public notice. Though they are incapable of feizing the whole of a fyftem, of deducing it from its firft principles, and of following the chain of confequences through all their combinations; though their chief merit confifts in repeating what others have so often faid before, in giving to a phrase a better turn, and in expreffing themfelves, perhaps, with rather more correctnefs than the vulgar; they boldly come forward, and affert their fuperior confequence. By dint of intrigues and of every mean expedient, they compel the fenfible and judicious few, whofe modefty would even deter them from entering the lifts with fuch turbulent antagonists, to leave them the undifputed poffeffion of the field. They step into all offices of truft, to which men of diftinguished abilities only are adequate. And though the actual state of fociety offers them a thousand various channels of occupation, fo numerous is the tribe, especially in France, that, to efcape the miseries of impending want, they are reduced to the neceffity either of teaching what they are totally ignorant of, or of becoming the hired fcribblers of a bookfeller. If their vanity did not life every other feeling, they would never ceafe to lament the unhappy moment, when they forfook the fhop or the loom of their fathers. But as there is a prevailing mania for reading, which is fortunately become one of the neceffaries of life, a regular fupply of books must be found fuited to every character, and to every capacity. "Your excellency has lived in fo exalted a fphere; your constant Occupation has been directed to objects of fo important a nature, that this clafs of men can never have arrefted your attention. Placed in the midst of them, and in a point of view which enabled me to form a true estimate of them, I can confidently affure your excellency, that continually tormented by the ftings of envy and jealoufy, they would readily undertake any thing, to be revenged on what they call the caprice of fortune, and the injuftice of men. The competition of fuch numbers cannot but often detract from each other's talents; they, therefore, are engaged in a continual ftruggle to fupplant each other, and do not bluth to infinuate themselves, by the meanest fervility, into the favour of those who have the difpofal of

places. They fhow the greatest impatience to be admitted into the lociety of the great and opulent, whofe foibles they are intimately acquainted with, fince they find it fo much their intereft to ftudy them. If in general they are treated by them with cold indifference," they fufficiently retaliate by the inward contempt and deteftation which they feel for thofe, on whom they fo profufely lavish the incenfe of their adulation, And as one of the firft effects of the culti-. vation of letters has been the deadly blow which fuperftition and fanaticifm have received; as fome of the first writers, whofe daring genius and brilliancy of parts did not compenfate for their levity of character, and their want of folid judgment, have availed themfelves of the general fpirit of thefe enlightened times, the better to attack religion by continually confounding it with fanaticifm; as the enchanting melody of their periods, an airy and pleasant raillery, and a mofte excellent fund of attic humour, have confpired to give their works an unusual degree of celebrity; they have been followed by a hoal of imitators, who, with unexampled audacity, have attacked every thing facred, every thing which till then had defervedly commanded the refpect and veneration of the people, every thing which, after mature investigation, will finally be found to afford the only folid basis on which the edifice of fociety can fafely reft. This deluge of irreligion could not but ftrike the clergy with horror, and alarm all governments, which, perhaps, have gone too far in the measures they have taken to check the publication of thefe licentious works. The confequence has been, that open hoftilities have fubfifted ever fince between the government and the clergy on one fide, and men of letters on the other; hoftilities which, aided by the ha tred, the envy and jealoufy of the latter against the great and the opulent, have finally rendered them irreconcileable enemies to every one who poffeffed any authority in fociety.

This, Sir, is the clafs of men which we have fo much reason to dread. Flushed with the arrogance of vanity and felf-love, in proportion to their want of real talents, they rank themselves with a. Solon or a Lycurgus, and think nothing too arduous for their capacities. Having feduced to their party that tribe of inferior citizens, who, from the accidental perufal of a pamphlet, think themfelves entitled to decide on the fpirit of laws; they pretend that abuses exift only because they are excluded from the government; and because they do not poffefs riches, power, and the decorations of titles, they affect to defpife them. Having nothing to lofe, they care not to what exceffes they may be carried; the French revolution and French principles are the conftant theme of their warmeft admiration; and looking upon its fatellites as their deliverers and avengers, they expect them with a fanguine impatience, invite them by intreaties, and favour their reception by intrigues. The populace, being eafily feduced and mifled by their declamations, is merely the inftrument: they are the power that puts it in motion."

Even in England, though the clafs be fmaller, the author tells us, with a juft rebuke, that, notwithstanding our great advan

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tages and happiness, fome of thefe, are to be found, "who, being difcontented with their own government, openly ca"lumniate it." P. 48.The fentiments of a free-born foreigner, as unconnected with any of our parties, are particularly deferving of respect.

ART. XIX. A Difcourfe on the Evangelical Hiftory, from the Interment to the Afcenfion of our Lord and Saviour Fejus Chrift. By the late Reverend Thomas Townfon, D. D. Archdeacon of Richmond; one of the Rectors of Malpas, Chejbire, and fome Time Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, To which is prefixed, an Account of the Author. Infcribed by the Editor, Dr. John Loveday, to the Bishop of Chelter. 8vo. 210 pages. 5s. 6d. Fletcher, Oxford; Payne, London.

A Name fo eminent as that of Dr. Townfon is entitled to

particular refpect, and the confideration that, as this is a pofthumous work, the public can expect no future fruits of his abilities, will induce us to pay a minute attention to it, as a laft production. The work, which was begun in 1778, is publifhed under the care and infpection of Dr. Loveday, the fon of Mr. Loveday, the very intimate and beloved friend of Dr. Townson: and the public is much indebted to the editor. for the correctnefs and accuracy with which it appears. Pre'fixed to the Difcourfe is a very interesting Life of Dr. Townfon, written, with grateful remembrance of his patron's virtues, by Dr. Churton. In this, befides a very full and well written account of the author's life, we are furnished with many excellent reflections which equally evince the judgment and the piety of Dr. Churton.

It appears from this account, that Dr. Townfon was born in 1715; that his father was a native of Lancashire, and defcended from a refpectable family in Yorkshire; and it is believed, that Robert Townfon, Bifhop of Salisbury, in the last century, was of the fame stock. After the domeftic inftructions which he received from his father, the worthy rector of Much-Lees, in Effex, and other private tuition, he was removed to the freefchool of Felfted; where, among other eminent perfons, Dr. Wallis and Dr, Barrow were educated. From thence he was entered a commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1733, and two years afterwards elected a demy of Magdalen. In 1741 he was ordained deacon, and the year following priest, by Dr. Secker, then Bishop of Oxford; and immediately after fet off, in company with Mr. Dawkins and other gentlemen, to Italy.

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Not choofing to accompany Mr. Dawkins to Palmyra, after fatisfying his curiofity in Italy, he returned through Germany and Holland to England; where, his abilities and worth being foon noticed, he was fucceffively prefented to the vicarage of Hatfield Peverel, in Effex, the rectory of Blithfield, in Staffordfhire, and the Lower Mediety of Malpas, in Cheshire; having, in the courfe of his progrefs to preferment, fulfilled, with great fidelity and reputation, the office of tutor and proctor in the univerfity.

From parochial labours to literary purfuits," as Dr. Churton obferves, the tranfition is eafy and natural."

In this Life we are furnished with some flight, but correct productions of Latin and English poetry, which occafionally flowed from Dr. Townfon's pen. In 1765 he was engaged in compofing an Expofition of the Apocalypfe, which work, we are told, he completed, but never publifhed; and the reason affigned for its fuppreffion, deferves to be noticed. It is related, that having made it his requeft to God, that, if his system were wrong, the work might never fee the light, whenever he thought of preparing his papers, fomething intervened to hinder his defign. The cautious piety of this conduct deferves certainly much applaufe. In the intervals of his application to this work, he publifhed three fhort anonymous pamphlets on the Controverfy of the Confeffional, which are represented as masterly productions. In 1768 he again travelled, as tutor to Mr. Drake, the son of his patron, and returned to Malpas the following year; when the reception which he experienced from his parishioners afforded a very flattering teftimony of his paftoral virtues. The Difcourfes on the Four Gospels, which he foon afterwards publifhed, eftablished his reputation for fcriptural criticifm. Bishop Lowth pronounced that work to be a capital performance, and attefted, that it fet every part of the fubject of which it treated in a more clear and convincing light than it ever appeared in before. It obtained him the degree of doctor in divinity by diploma from Oxford. In the 2d edition of the work is added, a Sermon preached at the Primary Vifitation of Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Chefter, first published at the request of his worthy diocefan, who, two years after, with an honourable attention to his worth, preffed on his acceptance the archdeaconry of Richmond. In 1782, by a fpecial commiffion from the Bishop, he vifited, with great attention, the five northern deaneries within the archdeaconries, fulfilling the object of the vifitation, and the important views of his patron, with very exact and attentive zeal. In the information which he communicated, upon the subjects pointed out for his examination, he speaks of the very beneficial effects produced in